


Son of Maligore

by SherlockMalfoy



Series: Grid Links [1]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Jason-Centric, M/M, Minor Character Death, Post Turbo Movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 02:12:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 47,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14094801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockMalfoy/pseuds/SherlockMalfoy
Summary: "I'm scared Kim. You know me, I'm not scared of anything. But what if... what if we're not really free from Maligore?...Whatever is still inside us is dangerous. It's... it's wrong. It feels wrong. It feels evil."After being kidnapped and used as a human sacrifice, Jason was never the same again. His life takes a lot of twists and turns after being freed from Maligore's control, but the power and the darkness he was given still remains. As he struggles to understand what's happened to him his life falls to pieces around him and his friendships with the other ex-Rangers are pushed and others broken.(4/17/18 - Rating changed from T to M to be safe. Vague-ish and short sex scene thing in Chapter 8.)





	1. Chapter 1

He was standing in Angel Grove Airport with a cardboard sign he'd put together hastily the night before. Sparkling pink and silver glitter shaking off and covered his hands and clothes, but it was worth it to see the look on the young woman's face when she spotted it.

"Jase!" she cried out in excitement, leaving her rolling suitcase a few feet behind her as she ran to throw her arms around him.

He held the sign bearing her name in bright glitter and glue to the side wrapped an arm around her as she wrapped both of hers tightly around him. "Oh my God it's been way too long," she said.

"You're telling me, sis. You've got to come back home once in a while. Phone calls and letters can only do so much for the soul." He gave her squeeze before letting go and reaching for her suitcase.

"You don't have to-"

"What are friends for. Besides you had to lug it around so far already. Come on, I'll get you lunch before we head back to my place."

"Thanks again for letting me stay. Are you sure it's okay with your parents? I mean-"

"Kim, they adore you. And it saves you money on a hotel."

"But what if the gang finds out and spoils the surprise?"

"They won't. They're all busy with the shelter this week and the charity competition to raise money for it this weekend."

**o0o**

They were in the guest room at the Scott house, the door closed for privacy as Kim unpacked her suitcase. "Thanks again for letting me stay."

"You don't have to keep thanking me. We're family. We look out for each other."

She smiled, holding up a bright pink t-shirt with the logo for the gym she trains at. "God, I haven't been a Ranger in forever and I still can't break myself of buying up every pink shirt I find," she said with a laugh before turning her attention to Jason. "At least you learned there's more colors than red."

"Well... I had help with that. Don't look in my closet while you're here. It's all black, tan, and some gold."

She folded her shirt and tucked it in the drawer. "No way," she said. "How in the world did you get sucked back into being a Ranger?"

"You know?"

"Of course I know, Jason. I'm not blind. Plus it might have been on the news from time to time. What's the new team like? There were six for a while but... well, you'll have to tell me why the black and gold guy's not around anymore."

He shrugged. "New team's same as the old team. A few color changes-"

"Yeah I noticed. No Black Ranger. That's weird."

"Adam's green now."

Kim had to sit down she was laughing too hard. "Kermit's finally green?!"

"I wish I knew what that meant."

"Oh right! That was after you and the guys went to the peace conference. Okay so this one time we lost our powers..."

By the time Kim had finished telling him about the Ninjetti powers, Jason couldn't stop laughing. "So let me get this straight," he said after a while. "Everyone got a new power based on their spirit animals and Adam was upset that he was a frog? Dude, frogs are the best!"

"That's what Dulcea said!"

Jason shook his head, his laughter finally dying down as Kim returned to unpacking. "Man," he said after a while. "It sucks that I can't hold a morph anymore. I'd love to go find out what mine is."

At last Kim finished, setting her travel bag of toiletries on top of the guest dresser and leaving her suitcase empty on the bed. She could always deal with that later. "What do you mean? Aren't you still-"

He sighed and shook his head. "No. I... I was doing the guys a favor. I came back home because my mom got in a wreck and... it was real bad. She's uh... she's better but sometimes she still needs a little help. Memory problems mostly now."

"Oh Jason I'm so sorry," Kim said, coming to him and taking his hand between both of hers. He let her give him what comfort she could as she sat on the edge of the bed in front of him. He squeezed the hand beneath his with a small smile.

"Thanks Kimmy," he said softly, then coughed. "Well... that's why I came back. After she was stable Tommy called me up. He was the only one that knew I was in town - my dad called him to pick me up at the airport so I didn't have to get a cab." Kim nodded as she followed along. "Anyway there was this alien Ranger who was injured and it spit him into three people. Something about a thing his species does. So anyway, Trey couldn't use his powers and the ugly guys chasing him wanted them for themselves. Without a host the powers are gone forever. They needed someone to hold them for the guy until he could heal. It was a short list and I was the only name on it."

"Wow..." she said softly, squeezing his hand again. She could tell even recounting the story to her woke something mournful in him. She'd seen it in her own eyes after she gave her power coin to Kat. It was the loss of the Power. It left you changed forever - enhancing your natural abilities to peak performance permanently - but the surge of a morph? The rush of the Power coursing through you after a battle?... there was nothing like it. It marked you.

And Jason had gone and done it twice over.

"Hey, I have an idea," she said with a bright smile. "Lets order some pizza and rent a really terrible horror movie. Just like we used to in the early days. And tomorrow night, we can go rent some equipment and go scuba diving in the bay."

"At night?"

She nodded. "I do it all the time when I'm in Florida. It's the best. There's nothing like the ocean at night. It's so relaxing and beautiful. You'll love it. I promise."

o0o

They sat in the hold of the submarine, listening to the mind scrambled Bulk and Skull in the cell next door.

"Remind me again how I'm supposed to enjoy this scuba diving trip?" Jason said.

"This is totally not my fault," Kim tossed back. The banter helped keep them in control of themselves. It helped keep their old Ranger instincts from kicking into overdrive. "We'll get out of this. The Rangers will come."

Jason sat with his legs drawn up, hands dangling from his knees as he tried to focus on his breathing. He had his eyes closed and his head back against the cold bulkhead. "Hey Kim," he said after she had stopped pacing and sat down beside him.

"Yeah?"

"When we get out of this, remind me to call Emily and tell her she's not going to my family reunion in two weeks."

"We're being held prisoner by space pirates and THAT is what you choose to talk about."

"I mean it. It's important."

She sighed and shook her head. "Alright, fine. I promise to make you call Emily." She waited a few minutes before speaking again. "What's brought this on all of a sudden?"

He didn't open his eyes and shrugged. "I guess... it's not fair to her. We're not even dating, but I don't want her getting caught up in Ranger stuff, you know? What if the next guys after Divatox go after the guys? We know what to do, how to handle it. But someone like Emily? Look at what they've done to Bulk and Skull."

"Wait, you're not dating?"

"No."

"But I thought- You always had the biggest crush on her. And back before you left for Switzerland weren't you guys going to dances together and everything?"

"Kim, I had a small crush on her. And really it wasn't that big a deal."

"Okay. So why were you taking her to your family reunion?"

"It's a long story."

"We've got a long time to wait for a rescue, Jase."

He let his head droop forward and stared down at the water that came up to his ankles. The water that lapped at his hips as he sat in it. "She couldn't exactly take the person she wanted to the dance. Neither could I," he said. "Besides," he said as he drew in a deep breath, letting it settle his nerves. He hadn't told anyone, but this kidnapping and potential future as a human sacrifice had made him take a long hard look at his life both from a Ranger perspective and a civilian one. "Ah, nevermind. It's not important."

He felt a warm hand on his arm; wet, but warm. "Besides what, Jase?" she asked, her voice soft, riddled with concern. "You can tell me anything, you know that."

She was right. But at the same time, he didn't exactly know how she might react if she knew everything. Surrounded by their friends was one thing but in the dank prison of an alien submarine...

"The one I'd rather go with was dating someone else at the time. Em had the same problem."

"So... you guys always went as friends. That's nothing to be ashamed of, Jase," she said, giving his arm a squeeze. "So, are they still dating?"

"No. They broke up ages after I left. By the time I came back though..."

"Dating someone else?" she asked. He nodded. "I know the feeling..."

"It's a little more complicated than that," he said, and when asked further he wouldn't elaborate, instead getting to his feet and stretching before taking stock of their prison again. "Enough of this pity party. We might not have our powers anymore, but we're still Rangers. Let's try and find a way out of here."

Kim wasn't stupid, despite her reputation outside the Rangers. There was still something Jason wasn't telling her, she could feel it. But she knew enough about him not to push the issue. Maybe after they made it out the other side of this, they could talk again. She got to her feet and wiped her hands on her pink tank top. "I'll try to make some weapons. We might still be strong, but we don't know what these monsters are capable of."

"Good idea."

**o0o**

They were finally back on dry land. Well, familiar dry land. There was barely enough time to rest and recuperate before Jason volunteered to take Rocky's place in the tournament. The Rangers managed to get Bulk and Skull's minds unscrambled easily and the two had no memory of what had happened to them. That was a good thing considering they were privy to the identities of the Power Rangers at the time. It was unavoidable.

Now, though, the day after everything... some of the gang were visiting their friend at home. "So... he was hiding under the bed the whole time?" Kat asked as she settled onto the sofa between Tommy and Tanya. Jason sat on the arm of a chair while Kim sat in its seat. Adam was on a stool next to Rocky, who was semi-comfortable in a recliner with his feet up.

"Yeah. I didn't even know he came in until after you guys teleported out. I tried to convince Zordon to pick someone else but there wasn't time. And the only other person who could step up was kidnapped himself."

Jason shook his head with a laugh. "Hey bro, I didn't exactly plan to get kidnapped while scuba diving. I'll give you a heads up next time though."

"You two gave us a real scare," Tanya said. "I'm so glad you're okay. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to be possessed by that... that thing. Fighting your friends."

Jason tried not to squirm as he felt eyes on him. He wouldn't meet Tommy's patient, understanding stare. "Yeah... it was tough," he said as Kim took over the conversation.

"It was so... weird. Like, I felt so angry. And it felt like every terrible thought and feeling I've ever had was amplified to the max. I knew you guys were there to help us, and that you were my friends. But... that part of me that cared was sort of shut off, you know?" She looked to Tommy, who was nodding.

"Yeah," he said. "It sounds familiar."

Kim wiped at her face. "I'm sorry guys. I tried to fight it, but it was so strong. Everything I said while I was... you guys know I didn't mean it, right?"

Jason reached down to pat her shoulder. "Like I told Tommy a few years ago, that wasn't really you, no matter what you felt. The spell made you do it and you couldn't control anything you did before it was broken." He knew what he said was right, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it. Not really.

Not when he still felt the fire in his veins and the Power just below the surface of his skin. There wasn't time since the sub, since the temple, to really take stock of what had happened to them. How it had changed them both for better or worse. He could still see his own hand, choking Tommy at the edge of the lava pit every time he closed his eyes. Could feel his heart break every time he remembered the flash of fear in his eyes at the demonic roar in his own voice as he proclaimed - No! This one is MINE! - The result of him fighting the mind control with everything he had. Breaking it just enough, just barely enough, that he wasn't under Maligore's complete control despite the evil that had settled in his heart.

But he buried it down deep. He might not be the leader anymore, but the others still looked up to him. He had to be strong. For Kim if for no one else.

"You guys know if you ever need to talk, evil ranger to evil ranger, you can always talk to us, right Tommy?" Kat said, reaching for Tommy's hand.

Jason's jaw tightened, and he gave a small nod as Kim answered for them both.

He wouldn't look at the pale and tanned hands, or the brown eyes that seemed to be picking him apart in silence.

**o0o**

"I'm never drinking again," he groaned as he rolled over in bed - or rather tried to. A solid mass blocked his movement, holding him tightly in sleep. His mind still foggy from a night of drinking, he tried to piece together how - and more importantly why - he was the little spoon in his own bed.

Mom and dad out of town. Family reunion. He'd told Em the week before, right after he'd seen Kim off at the airport, that he wanted to stop their arrangement. He couldn't keep pretending to date to keep their family's off their backs. Not after Muiranthias two weeks ago. Not after finally doing that soul searching he'd told himself he would do in Switzerland but never got around to.

He cracked open an eye to blearily glance at the nightstand. A half-eaten slice of pizza sat on a paper plate next to four shot glasses and an empty bottle of tequila from his father's cabinet.

For just a few moments more he ignored the nagging thoughts in the back of his mind, clouded by a pleasant soreness reminiscent of a good sparring session. He let himself relax a little longer in the arms that held him and reveled in the familiarity of them...

Wait...

He frowned. Actively trying to recall the previous night.

He was working on his motorcycle after his parents left for the weekend. He broke something on it. Something that shouldn't be able to break with bare hands, even when he had Ranger strength. He went into town to find a place with a replacement part.

Couldn't find it. Got angry at himself. Went to the youth center. Broke a punching bag by accident. Dented a locker in frustration. Had an argument with someone... He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing and his racing heart even as the arms that held him tightened their hold on him and a face burrowed into the back of his neck.

He froze when he heard the voice behind him, raspy with sleep and a hangover. "Hey."

"Hey," he whispered back, giving up hope of his heart slowing down any time soon.

"You okay now, Jase?"

He opened his eyes and stared at the floor beside the bed where a pile of red, black, and khaki had landed the night before. "I don't know," he whispered back truthfully.

They lay there quietly until the tell-tale chirp of Tommy's communicator sounded, breaking the uncertain silence between them when both tried to speak at the same time.

"About last night-"

"The Rangers need me-"

They stopped, lapsing into silence again until the communicator signaled the urgent need of the Red Turbo Ranger's attention again. Jason sighed involuntarily when he felt lips press against the side of his neck, over a rather sore bruise starting to blossom. He'd have to wear a turtleneck or some other kind of collar for a few days.

It was warm, careful, and chaste. But no less meaningful. "Can I come back later, after..."

Jason pulled away, and Tommy let him, sitting up when he did and accepting the clothes that were handed back to him from the floor.

"Please?"

"Yeah," he said as the communicator went off for a third time. "I have a lot of stuff to do today so, uh, come back for dinner." They dressed quickly, Tommy hopping around trying to tug his shoes on as he fumbled with his communicator. Just as he was about to leave, Jason flicked a rubber band from the drawer in his nightstand at him. "Hair," was all he said.

Tommy flashed him a relieved smile as he pulled his mussed hair back from his face just before teleporting out of the former Ranger's bedroom.

It wasn't until he was in the shower later that morning that he noticed the green-black disk inked onto his hip that no amount of scrubbing would remove. He frowned as he poked at the sensitive skin of the new tattoo and tried to picture what he'd seen of Tommy that morning as he scrambled to dress. Then again the entire morning was awkward and he'd been avoiding looking directly at him.

"I am NEVER drinking tequila again."

**o0o**

"I can't do this anymore."

"Jase-"

"It's not fair to any of us."

"I told you there's nothing going on between us."

"Really? Just like you told Kat there's nothing going on between _us_? Even though you cozy up to her when everyone's looking and sneak off over here after dark." Jason snapped back at him bitterly. "I'm tired of pretending like it's okay. I can't sit back and watch you with her and pretend it's fine."

Tommy took the wad of black and red shirts from his hand and threw them to the floor. "I won't let you do this."

"In case you haven't noticed I'm not one of your Rangers, Tommy. You can't order me around anymore." His words were snarled in anger as he shoved past to pick his clothes up off the floor and put them in his duffle.

"I never said-"

"You didn't have to. I know when I'm being played."

Tommy growled, throwing his hands up in the air and letting them fall back down to his sides. "I give up. You want to run away, fine. Run away. This is Switzerland all over again."

Jason froze, the electric razor he'd been about to put in his bag cracked in his grip, the sound of the plastic breaking was like an echo in the silence that had fallen after Tommy's aggravated statement. "What did you just say?"

Tommy stared at the device in his hand, swallowing hard as he moved his gaze from the broken razor to the face of his best friend, his other half. It was angry. It was... for a split second he could have sworn he saw in his lover's face the evil that had consumed him on the isle of Muiranthias. "Jason, I didn't mean-"

_"Get out."_

"I'm sorry."

_**"GET OUT!"** _ he roared, clenching his fist around the razor and breaking it the rest of the way without even meaning to.

Tommy had just enough time to teleport out in a flash of red before Jason flung the broken pieces towards him and collapsing onto his bed.

**o0o**

Kim met him at the airport in Miami, holding a cardboard sign with his name in red and gold glitter glue. When he was about ten feet away she ran to him, dropping her sign and wrapping her arms around him. He dropped his bag and brought his own up to hug her back.

"You look terrible."

"I haven't slept in week," he said as she pulled away to arms length. She looked up into her old friend's face taking in the redness of his eyes and the bags beneath them.He reached for his bag, but Kim snatched it up for him, echoing his own words from just two months ago.

"You had to lug it around so far already. Come on, I'll get you lunch before we head back to my place."

**o0o**

He was finally ready to talk a few days later after finally resting for the first time a week. He'd come to the gym with her to check it out and start planning a workout plan. Maybe get a job so Kim wouldn't have to support him through whatever it was he'd been going through.

They were sitting in the Subway across the street from the gym, Kim explaining a new routine she was working on. She was filling the void of conversation, he knew. And had been grateful for her not pushing him for information. Not like she used to back when they were in school.

"Hey," he said when she'd run out of steam. "Thanks again for letting me stay with you while I work through some stuff."

"You're like a big brother to me, Jase. Of course I'd let you stay."

He nodded, picking at his sandwich before pushing it forward half-eaten. "You know when we were in the sub, and I told you about Em and me?"

She nodded. It had only been a few months since their kidnapping and being used as human sacrifices for yet another evil villain. "Yeah. You told me you guys weren't dating but uh... kind of pretending to I think?"

"Yeah. We were. The day I sent you back off on the plane I called her up and told her I couldn't keep doing it. She was cool with it, and wanted to break it off forever ago but didn't know how."

"That's good. It's not fair to either of you to have to pretend something like that."

He nodded, playing with the straw in his cup. "So I, uh, told that person I liked."

"Yeah? How'd it go?"

"Not good."

"I could guess that by the fact you flew all the way to Miami to get away from Angel Grove. I'm kind of surprised you didn't call Trini and Zack first."

"They told me they were headed to South America soon," he said. "And I didn't want to have to explain my, uh, left over lava monster problems."

That made her frown, giving him a slight tilt of her head as she watched his face with the utmost concern. "Jason, I'm asking you this only because I've been there. We went through it together and I know at least part of what's happening to you because I'm going through it, too. That person you left back in Angel Grove, you didn't... you didn't hurt them did you? By accident?"

He shook his head. "No, but I wanted to," he said, running a hand through his short black hair and not meeting her gaze. "When I saw him with her, like that, I just... I felt like I was back on that island and I just wanted to reach out and... I don't know what. But it wasn't good."

Kim reached across the table, taking his hand away from the straw and into her own. Some of the things he said. "Jase, be honest with me. Please. Is it who I think it is?" she asked quietly. She'd left him alone since he'd arrived, letting him come to her in his own time because that's exactly what she'd needed when she had met someone in Paris. She'd noticed little things since he'd arrived. How he carefully picked through her cabinet to find anything to drink or eat out of that wasn't green, red, or white.

She had done the same thing for weeks after mailing her letter. Not to mention the fact that when he'd been in the gym testing out some of the equipment she thought she saw something when his shirt rode up a little. But she'd dismissed it as nothing.

But hearing her friend talk now...

"Well, you **did** say it was complicated," she said with a sigh and a squeeze of his hand when he hadn't responded but instead looked away from the table altogether.

"I almost changed my mind. We had a fight about Kat the day before and he came over to apologize but I panicked because he came while I was packing."

"What exactly led to your fight? You said you caught him with someone else. So... Kat then. Are you sure about what you-"

He felt his cheeks flush as red as his workout shirt. "The last time I saw someone like that with him I ran to Switzerland. What does that tell you?" he said softly, causing her cheeks to tint a shade darker than the pink of her own shirt.

"Oh."

"Yeah," he said. "Doesn't matter now. It's for the best I left. I can't control what's happening to me. I broke my razor when he pointed out I was running away. Again. One minute I'm just angry, the next I wanted to strangle the life out of him. I'm scared Kim. You know me, I'm not scared of anything. But what if... what if we're not really free from Maligore?"

"Larigot and Yara broke the spell, Jason. And Maligore was destroyed by the Rangers." She glanced around to make sure no one was paying them any attention and squeezed his hand again, refusing to let it go when he tried to pull it away. "I can't explain what's going on with us. Maybe it's like after we gave up our powers and some traces were left behind. Like my extra agility, and your enhanced strength. This might just be the same thing, but from a different source."

"Kim, whatever is still inside us is dangerous. It's... it's wrong. It feels wrong. It feels evil."

She sighed, shaking her head and finally letting go of his hand so she could sit back in her chair. She watched him, his hand returning to the straw of his coke, the ice probably melted down so far now that it was more like flat coke flavored water. "Jase, I know this might sting, all things considered, but you really should have told all of this to Tommy before you left. I'm not saying that whatever weird relationship triangle you two had back home would have ever gotten sorted out, but if there's anyone on this planet that understands what you're going through, what we're going through with this, it's him. This power that we have now, it might have come from Maligore, but he's gone. It's our power now and what matters now is how we choose to use it."

He couldn't help it. Despite the melancholy he felt, the anger and the confusion and frustration boiling beneath the surface, he couldn't fight the half-smile that came over his face. Especially when she gave him such a smug look and used a version of his own speech to Tommy after they freed him from Rita's control.

Maybe, with her help and support, he could get through whatever Maligore's power was doing to him after all.

**o0o**

He had just got back from the pool at their apartment as the phone was ringing. Rather than freeze in his trunks and the air conditioning he went to his room to change, letting the machine pick it up for him.

_"You've reached Kim Hart! Sorry I can't make it to the phone, but those gold medals won't win themselves! Leave me a message at the beep!"_ Kim's cheerful, pre-recorded voice chirped from the machine hanging in the kitchen. He left his door open so he could listen, just in case it was one of the rare calls for him. Only work ever called, and sometimes Trini when she could get enough long distance credits saved up to talk a few minutes.

_"Hey Kim, it's Rocky."_ Jason frowned as he pulled on his shorts over his boxers. Rocky never called. He had Kim's number, of course. Most of them did. Though no one knew Jason had moved in. No one but Zack and Trini. And he preferred it that way.

_"Tommy's in trouble. He was racing and the car went out of control and..."_ As Jason padded through the apartment towards the phone in the kitchen, he could hear the tremor in his friend's voice. The man was trying not to freak out. Trying not to break down. Jason came to a stop before the phone, and as much as he wanted to answer it, to talk to him and find out what had happened, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

_"Look, call me back as soon as you get this. And if you hear from Jason, tell him to call me too. I'd rather he hear it from me than Kat."_

He felt around behind himself for the counter, staggering back and using it for support as his legs decided to try and give out beneath him.

When Kim came home from training hours later she found the apartment dark and Jason in the floor, his back pressed against the lower cabinets in their kitchen and his head in his hands. He wouldn't say a word to her even after she'd coaxed him out of the floor and over to the dinner table with a glass of ice water that he didn't touch.

After she checked the answering machine, she knew why.

**o0o**

_"Hey Jase, I know you're screening calls so, if you're home please pick up, I need to talk to you like, now."_

He sighed, turning from the counter where he'd been making a sandwich and picked up. He almost didn't hit the answer button on the handset but relented. "Hey," he said.

_"Hey,"_ Kim replied.

"How is he?"

_"He won't be racing again. He dislocated an arm, fractured some ribs, nearly broke his neck, and has a skull fracture."_

He cradled the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he piled the veg on his bun. "He's lucky that's all he got. Reckless ass," he said. There was a long silence where all he heard was his best friend's breathing.

_"Jase there's... there's something else,"_ she said quietly, almost like she was trying to hide who she was talking to. _"He keeps asking to see you."_

"No."

_"I know. But... it's causing problems here. Kat's on a warpath. Rocky's trying to keep her from screaming at Tommy in the hospital, and Adam's caught between everyone and trying to play peacekeeper."_

"What the hell, Kimmy?" he exclaimed, moving the phone to his other shoulder so he could reach for a bag of chips from the top of the fridge.

_"She saw his tattoo."_

He dropped the bag of chips, grateful that he hadn't taken the clothes pin off the folded part yet.

_"Did you hear me? Jase,"_ Kim hissed through the phone, her voice still low. _"She was helping him change into a fresh hospital gown and saw it. Rocky, too."_

He licked his lips, heart hammering in his chest as he tried to process what he was hearing. Tommy's racing accident that could have killed him. His girlfriend that Jason had left to make way for and one of his best friends saw... "What... what did he tell her?"

_"What do you think he told her? You **know** he can't handle pain medication well. Never could."_

"Is she there with you?"

_"She's around."_

"Who else?"

_"Adam. He seems to be the only one that can keep her from exploding."_

Jason sighed, and thought about it a few minutes. He put his hand to his hip, rubbing at his matching tattoo through the fabric of his shorts. Then, he made a decision. "Do you think you can get them in the same room, preferably right now, and not with Tommy? I don't think I can handle hearing him. Give me a call back if you can."

_"Jason, what..."_

"I know how to handle Kat. So I'm going to tell her what she wants to hear and once again pull his reckless ass out of the fire."

Kim called him back hours later. It was after eleven in Miami, but he knew visiting hours at Angel Grove Medical had just ended. He waited to hear her voice on the machine before picking up and taking the phone to the sofa. He swallowed hard when he heard Kim telling him he was on speaker at Adam's place.

"Hey guys. Uh... sorry I couldn't fly out there," he said. It wasn't a lie. His reason for not joining Kim on the trip was. "Couldn't get the time off work, but Kim's been letting me know how things are."

_"We miss you man,"_ Adam said. _"Tommy's been-"_

"I know. That's why I wanted to talk to you guys. He uh... Kim told me something happened after he got to the hospital and now you guys are all fighting?"

_"Oh for heaven's sake let's not dance around this,"_ Kat snapped sharply. _"Tommy told me everything."_

He could picture Kim and Adam wincing, and Tanya tried not to laugh nervously but failed. "I know what it looks like, but you guys don't know the story behind it. And we all know Tommy and pain medication don't mix very well. Remember when he had his wisdom teeth pulled out?"

Kim stifled a laugh. _"Yeah..."_ she said fondly. _"He swore up and down for a solid week that Ms. Appleby was hitting on him and he freaked out trying to tell her he had a girlfriend."_

"Yeah. I think the same thing's happened here," Jason said, wishing he could see his friends so he could better judge if they'd believe him or not. "Kat, he loves you. He's also stoned off his behind right now and doesn't know half of what he's saying and he doesn't have the Ranger healing going for him anymore either."

_"So tell me why **my** boyfriend has **your** power coin permanently etched onto his hip?"_

"Because Em broke up with me and I was still having nightmares of being possessed by an evil lava monster and I was very angry and very drunk. No one likes to drink alone, Kat. He was just trying to be a friend when I needed one. And because I was drunk I thought it would be a good idea to get a tattoo for my best friend. He said it wasn't fair so he got one too. We had a good laugh about it the next day when we sobered up and I swear to you, that's all."

_"That's the truth?"_

"Yes. That is the truth. First chance I get I'll come out to Angel Grove and take a lie detector test to prove it to you. But honestly, don't give up on him because he's an idiot who can't metabolize morphine."

He spent the next ten minutes ignoring his breaking heart and waiting for Kat to start shouting at him while the others tried to catch him up with news from Angel Grove. It was Kim that came to his rescue, reminding Jason that he should probably get some sleep since he had work the next day and it was _"getting pretty late in Savannah."_

By the time he hung up, all he wanted was to curl up in bed with a couple bottles of beer and try to forget the last six months ever happened.

o0o

Three years, two failed relationships, and one Harley Davidson Mechanic Certification later Jason Scott had moved back to California, avoiding Angel Grove and settling into a place near Adam and Rocky in Stone Canyon.

He'd been back in the state for a few months and had finally got around to unpacking his last box. Kim had called a few times to check up on him between his training sessions. He was on the phone with her as he emptied the last box.

_"So then I told Angie that after the Athens games, I won't be competing anymore. I mean, it'll be kind of hard to explain in 2008 how I'll be 28 and still performing at peak condition like I'm 18. Like, how can I explain that without telling people that oh, when I was a teenager I used to fight monsters after school every day. Or that once I was possessed by an evil demon and now I can bend tire irons with my bare hands."_

Jason shook his head with a laugh. "Yeah, I hear you. It comes in handy at the garage sometimes though when I don't feel like dealing with the guys at the body shop. Just bend the damn things back into shape and be done with it."

"Lucky you. You've got a job where it helps."

He had just found a cigar box, taped shut with silver duct tape, in the mess that was the knick-knacks of his last box. Using his pocket knife he broke the tape seal and opened it up. Inside, among different high school honors medals, sat his old morpher and communicator. The Tyrannosaurus coin still shone brightly as he picked it up and looked at it, holding it up so it could catch the light.

He was about to tell her what he'd found when the line beeped. "Hey Kim, I'll have to call you back, I've got another call coming in."

Kim laughed. _"Yeah, I need to get going anyway. Angie keeps tapping her watch and giving me the death stare. Call me back in a few days, alright?"_

"Sure, kid," he said, reaching over to hit the button that would switch to the other line. "This is Jason Scott," he said. "Who's bugging me now?"

_"Hey Jase! My man! What's up!"_

"Hey Rocky! What's the occasion?"

_"Well, Adam got this bright idea to start doing a sort of Ranger get together. After news broke last year about the Astro Rangers identity going public, we thought maybe we could all hang out and catch up. Maybe if it works out do it every year. Since you're the closest we figured we'd call you up first."_

"It sounds... pretty good actually. The only other people from the old days I talk to are Kim, and sometimes Trini. Would be good to see everyone again."

Rocky hummed his agreement, but his voice took on a slight worried tone. _"Hey man, we uh... we want to invite Kat, too. That won't be a problem will it?"_

Jason sighed. "Nah, bro. I'm fine with it as long as she is. Everyone was a wreck at the time... y'know, with Tommy's accident and everything. She's a great lady and I did like being her friend."

The two men talked a little longer before Jason finally had to excuse himself, his stomach rumbling with a demand for food. He agreed to meet up with Rocky and Adam in a week or two, outside whatever reunion they were planning, and just hang out like the old days.

Part of Jason hesitated after he hung up. He was fine with Kat. He hadn't lied about that. The lie he'd told her about him and Tommy still stung, but it wasn't like it mattered anymore. Besides, given what he was dealing with he wasn't in any fit state to handle anyone else at the time anyway. Hell, he just finally got a handle on himself enough to move out of Kim's place.

Yeah... no. He'd be fine. And if he ran into Tommy again, well as long as he stayed away from the tequila he could deal with that, too. After all, it had been three years since he'd last spoken to him. And three since his stock car accident. Maybe that was enough time between them to let things stay dead.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know timeline is wonky. Don't care. Just having a bit of fun. :)

Kim couldn't make it. Jason wasn't surprised. She was heading to Sydney this year to represent team USA. After checking the television schedule Jason had made sure to set up his VCR to auto record the gymnastics competitions in the middle of the night so he could watch them the next day before and after work.

By the time he rolled up to the former Red-Blue and Black-Green Rangers' bungalow the yard and the street were already crowded with cars.

He'd talked to Kim for a few minutes before she'd gone to bed, and she gave him as much encouragement and support as she could, reminding him that he didn't owe anyone anything. He parked his bike in a free spot at the curb and made his way up to the door. Before he could even knock it was thrown open and a tiny dark skinned woman in yellow threw herself at him. "Jason! You made it!"

"Aisha?! God girl it's been years!"

"I just got back from Africa a few months ago. It's kind of the reason my boys are throwing this Ranger bash. I was homesick and wanted to see everyone."

He hugged her tightly before she let him go. "I'm glad you're home."

"It's good to back. Not that I'm not proud of the work I did over there, but sometimes you just gotta go home again."

"I know the feeling," he said. "Stone Canyon's not exactly Angel Grove, but it's home enough for me now."

She linked arms with him, dragging him into the noisy bungalow. "I haven't seen you since the power transfer. You've got to tell me everything! Did you really come back for a while and be the Gold Ranger? That makes you an unofficial Yellow now."

"Have you seen that uniform Aish?" Adam called out from the back patio. "If anything he's an honorary Black!"

"Guys guys, not that I didn't look good in black and gold, but come on. You know my one true love is always going to be tyrannosaurus red!" he laughed as he let himself be led back outside to the company of his old friends. He spotted some faces, familiar only to him by the newspapers and the occasional magazine article about the amazing Power Rangers who defeated the evil Astronema a few years ago. He couldn't have been bothered to pay attention at the time, hoping Miami wasn't about to get bombarded like the rest of the major cities. He and Kim really hadn't wanted to find another apartment on short notice.

"They your replacements?" Jason asked, nodding towards the dark haired girl in a pink halter top and her friend in the yellow sundress.

"Yeah," Adam said. "Mine's over there in black talking to the one in blue."

"Where's ah... the young one? Justin. Did they swap out blues again?"

"Sort of. When Zordon was captured and Eltar under attack TJ, Tommy's replacement, and the other older Rangers took off into space to rescue him. Justin stayed behind. In space they hooked up with a guy called Andros. The long haired guy with the weird blond stripe."

Jason nodded. "Yeah... saw him in the papers. Red shirt, right?"

"That's the one. The Turbo powers were gone when Divatox blew up the Power Chamber so Andros gave them new ones like his. TJ got demoted to the empty Blue spot."

"There's nothing wrong with being kicked down to Blue," Rocky said from the grill nearby. "Takes a hell of a lot of pressure off. I look good in red, but man I did not like the responsibility."

Jason hadn't realized how tense he was until he stopped to listen to Rocky's ridiculous banter, allowing himself to be eased into a more relaxed state as he accepted a drink and let himself enjoy the camaraderie. It wasn't until he saw a flash of pale blond and pink that he was reminded of the reasons he had been so hesitant to come. One of two, at least.

"Hello Jason," said the soft Australian voice. "It's good to see you again."

He nodded to her when she'd approached him at the umbrella table he'd seated himself at once he'd gotten bored of mingling with his fellow Rangers both past and more recent.

"May I?" she asked, indicating the chair across from him.

"Sure." A shrug. A pull from the brown, long-neck bottle in his hand.

He watched her as she fidgeted, unable to meet his eye for longer than a few seconds. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior before."

"There's nothing to apologize for," he said. "Water under the bridge."

"It doesn't make the things I... the horrible words I said about you behind your back any less wrong."

He sighed, rolling his eyes and straightening up in his chair some. "Look, you're my friend. We've fought side by side together as Rangers. And briefly against each other when Kim and I were taken. I'm not going to let something as petty as jealousy and miscommunication get in the way of that. If you're ready to start fresh, then so am I."

"Jason, I... thank you. I would like us to be friends again very much."

"If it makes you feel any better, when I left Angel Grove I wasn't exactly in a good place myself. I know you were controlled by Rita once so you might understand what I mean when I say I had a hard time dealing with the aftermath of Maligore's mind control. It affected me worse than I thought on top of everything else that was happening to me in life at the time. I had to get away and... I was angry at everyone for a long time. So, since we're apologizing for treating each other like crap, I'm sorry if anything I did or said at the time upset you."

The two talked for a while together at the table, changing the subject to more cheerful banter when others came by to visit with them. After a few hours TJ dropped down into one of the vacant seats at their little table, exhausted from a game of volleyball Rocky had insisted most of the Rangers get together and play. Jason and Kat managed to get out of it by claiming they were waiting to see if the Christmas Ranger was ever going to show up.

"Where IS he? It's not like him to miss a party."

"Heck if I know. I haven't seen him since before he gave his powers to you."

Kat feigned innocence, taking a dainty sip from her wine cooler. "Well... he is known for his tardiness. Perhaps he missed his flight from Boston and had to catch a later one."

Jason eyed her suspiciously. "Why do I have a feeling it's your fault he's not here..."

She gave the brightest of her fakest smiles. One Jason recognized very easily from his time as the Gold Ranger. "What did you do?" he asked her, an edge of warning to his tone.

"It's not my fault he forgot to double check and make sure he had turned on his alarm. I'm not his nanny."

"No, you're his girlfriend."

"Was," she said curtly. "We came to the decision that we wanted two entirely different things."

TJ looked from Kat to Jason and back again and shook his head, giving a soft laugh. "Man, remind me never to get on your bad side Katherine."

She giggled, taking another sip of her drink. "It would be wise to keep that in mind, TJ."

Later when they were among the last to leave, Kat pulled him into an embrace beside his motorcycle, and whispered in his ear. "Thank you for lying to me back then. It... I was selfish and it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. I was scared and felt like my whole world was falling apart and I thought he was going to die." Before she pulled back, she gave him a peck on the cheek.

He reached up to touch where her lips had pressed against his stubble with the pads of a few fingers in slight confusion.

"I... you knew?"

"At the time, no. Now?... It's kind of hard to ignore when the man calls out someone else's name in bed."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you. I didn't realize he was... already with someone else. It's not like the two of you were exactly telling anyone. But I shouldn't have pushed so hard and realized his reluctance wasn't just his trying to get over Kimberly. I was selfish and pushy and wrong."

"That means a lot coming from you," he said, pulling her into another hug, tighter than before. He let her go with a kind, but sad smile. "I'll see you around? We can trade horror stories about our favorite forgetful idiot over coffee."

"I'd like that. I'm moving to Mariner Bay in two months. You'll have to come visit me once I'm settled in."

"It's a deal. You can get my contact info from Rocky. I don't exactly advertise how to reach me unless it's for garage work. Makes life a lot simpler."

That night before he settled into bed, Jason e-mailed Kim rather than call her. The odd hours between Stone Canyon, CA and Sydney Australia made it pretty hard to keep in touch by phone during the Olympic Games. He told her about the others and how they're doing. And that he had patched things up, mostly, with Kat. Because they bonded over a green idiot and she'd deliberately reset his alarm so he would miss their flight but she wouldn't. And that the former Pink and former Red Rangers had called it quits for good.

He told her about the Astro Rangers team, who were really mostly the second Turbo team in shiny new uniforms, and what he thought of them. Mostly good things.

**o0o**

It was his second day off of the week before he saw him. He should have expected it, of course, having decided to work out at Adam and Rocky's dojo during a week when a lot of other former Rangers had come to town.

"Heads up," Adam said, nodding towards something over Jason's shoulder as he finished a set on the punching bag. "Here comes trouble."

Jason glanced over his shoulder and couldn't help but let out a groan before pushing his anxiety to the back-burner and trying to reclaim a sense of their old friendship again. "Hey Tommy."

"Jason, I didn't think I'd run into you here."

"Yeah, well, I might live in Stone Canyon but Angel Grove still has the better facilities," he said, trying to keep smiling. "Plus I get a friends and family discount."

"You do not. Stop claiming we practice nepotism."

"Well you did hire each other-"

"We **both** own the place, Jase. So we **both** work here. It's called a business partnership. You should try it sometime," Adam countered with a laugh.

The rest of the afternoon Jason spent there was awkward and uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to cut his day off routine short on account of Tommy Oliver.

**o0o**

A Ranger Thanksgiving is something highly unusual and something Jason never expected to be part of. Once again, Kim couldn't make it, having gone to spend time in Paris with her mom and step-father. So it was up to Jason to bring them her holiday greetings and apologies. Except for Rocky, who was the only other person with her phone number.

More people showed up, on account of Tanya insisting they all get together and do a potluck at Aisha's aunt's restaurant. Zhane from the Astro team brought them a lucky pot.

It's the thought that counts.

Even Tommy had made it, and on time, too. Though it was easy to see among the older Rangers that with Jason and Kat sitting together and talking quite happily to one another that the man who's Ranger colors reminded everyone of the next holiday of the year was clearly trying to avoid the both of them.

Which is why Tanya made sure Tommy was sat across from them, and could be heard muttering under her breath to Trini that if this failed then she'd have to lock the three of them in a coat closet until peace was made.

Throughout the evening, the laughter and the stories of Rangering and of civilian life (including a harrowing tale of the time TJ's Turbo team were all baked into giant pizzas), tensions between the first Red Ranger, second Pink, and first Green started to loosen up. Only just.

"You should go talk to him," Kat said when they'd found a few moments alone by the drinks table. "You might regret it if you don't."

"I might regret it if I do."

"At least get some closure if nothing else."

"Why do I get the feeling you're not going to let this go?"

"Because I know where you live and can show up on your doorstep at insane hours of the night with a bottle of Jack Daniels, a carton of pad Thai, a stack of sappy romance movies taller than you are, and enough lady problems that will bore you to tears. So which will it be, Jason?"

"Kim put you up to this, didn't she?"

"Well, she did imply that she had to pick up the pieces and that if I didn't at least nudge you in the general direction I would be getting a visit from Typhoon Kimberly in the near future. So..." She put her glass to her pink painted lips and took a sip. "Tis about to be the season. Might as well get it over with."

He waited another twenty minutes before approaching Tommy. And it was almost as if the room as a whole was holding it's breath as the two men stepped off to the side for a little privacy to talk. They spoke a little, forced politeness turning into genuine mild frustration and both of their inability to just say things plainly so they could each understand one another. Finally, Tommy shook his head and gave up. "It's really weird trying to do this here with everyone around."

"Yeah..."

"I'm in town staying at my parents place for the next week. Maybe we can meet up for coffee or something. Try and talk this out then."

"Yeah. We can do that," he said, offering his hand. Tommy took it, as they used to, hands to wrist, and with Jason giving a subtle nod, they hugged as old friends. One, two manly pats on the back and then apart again.

And it might have been Jason's imagination, but he thought he could feel the room and those around them give a collective sigh of relief.

**o0o**

They met up on Tuesday for coffee in Angel Grove, Jason's first day off of two during the week. They'd taken their drinks to the park, to one of the picnic tables the gang used to hang out at all the time after school - back when they were still young and fighting monsters and defending the city with super powers.

"So uh..." Jason started, seated on the table with his feet on the bench. "How've you been? Heard you got into MIT. Bet that was tough." He watched the joggers passing by on trail along the water nearby.

"Yeah. I had to really buckle down."

"Yeah... you really pulled your bacon out of the fire. Graduating with as high a GPA as you did, you really surprised everyone."

They lapsed into silence again, and Jason wanted to kick himself. This wasn't supposed to be how it went. There was supposed to be more... closure. A finality to that chapter of their lives so they could move forward, if not as friends then at least as pleasant acquaintances. Not this... weirdness between them.

He was about to say something, but Tommy spoke first. "So you know Kat broke up with me," he said. "The night before the bash at Rocky and Adam's. We were supposed to be taking the same flight from Boston, and getting in around 3 that afternoon. Just enough time to change and drive over to their place."

"Yeah... she told me about that."

"Yeah," Tommy said, staring at the black plastic lid of his toss-away cup. "Why did you lie when I had my wreck?"

"You needed everyone there supporting you and helping you get better. From what Kim told me everyone was fighting each other. If Kat calmed down, the rest would follow. She didn't know whether to be furious at you for dating her but being with me even for a few months, or to shower you with love and support but not know if it was her place to do it. She needed to hear it and I needed a reason to not come back." He shrugged and moved his cup in small circles to swirl the coffee inside around, redistributing the undissolved bits of powder from the flavor mixes the place used.

"Why didn't you come see me in the hospital?"

"I had to work."

"Bullshit. You could have got the time off."

He nodded. He could have - he just hadn't wanted to. Had made himself stay, for his own safety and everyone else's. He hadn't been as in control back then. He was still a raw nerve with too much Power.

"It's not that I didn't want to see you, Tommy. I did. It hurt knowing you nearly died and the last time I saw you I wanted to break your neck. And the last words I'd said to you were to get out."

"So why didn't you come home, Jase? I needed you, and you never came."

"Because I was - am - a monster. You fought monsters. Every moment I spent here, trying to ignore what was going on with me, was another moment everyone I cared about was put in danger."

"You're not a monster. You just went through some trauma. Getting your mind fucked that way does this to people."

He sighed, taking a sip of his now cold coffee before shaking his head. "Tommy... you remember the night you found me in the park clutching a bottle of tequila and we got the matching tattoos?" He didn't mention the morning after.

"Some of it... yeah..." Neither did Tommy.

"Earlier that day I broke a part of my motorcycle that can't be broken with human hands alone. And the day just got worse from there. As more time went by I started having nightmares about what happened. Most of them I killed you. And it scared the shit out of me."

"They were just nightmares-"

"Listen. I know that now. But it doesn't mean that I still couldn't lose control. Larigot and Yara broke the mind control, but they didn't cure us. Kim and I still have Maligore's power. The strength, the speed, the agility. The rage. It's still there now, but I've got a better grasp of it. Things couldn't keep going the way they were. And when I saw you and Kat..."

"That power you have left over... it made you more angry than you would have been normally?"

"Yeah."

"So when I threw Switzerland in your face and you practically threw me out-"

"It was for your own safety. You might have been a Ranger at the time, but I still had the power of an evil god pumping through me. I couldn't trust those odds. And I couldn't trust myself."

"But you could trust Kim?" His voice held a hint of accusation. "I know how it feels, Jase. You could have talked to me-

Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair as he tried to put his thoughts into words. "I couldn't. Being an evil Ranger and a puppet for a god aren't the same. For one thing, after we freed you all you had left over were the base Ranger abilities. Same as the rest of us. The extra power, the extra strength Rita's spell and that sword gave you were gone. It's not like that for me and Kim. Our minds and souls are free but it's a fight every day not to crush the phone trying to order a pizza. Having to constantly pay attention so I don't break a cup when I pick it up for a drink." He leaned forward, resting his forearms against his knees and holding his cold coffee with one careful, steady hand. "I had to leave before I did something to the people I care about."

"So you do still care about me?"

"Of course I do. Wouldn't be here if I didn't."

"Good because I want my best friend back."

Jason watched him from the corner of his eye. "I'm not looking for more than that, but you need to know my feelings haven't changed. So if all you want from me is to be your friend, you're going to need to be very blunt and clear about it, bro."

**o0o**

Jason sat in his back yard as the sun went down. A tall glass of lemonade in one hand and his cordless phone in the other. He hadn't expected her call, but she'd just got home to Miami from her trip to Paris to see her mom and had wanted to let him know she'd landed safely.

"So," he said after she'd finished telling him about her trip. "Could you tell me if I'm making a huge mistake?"

_"Of course."_

"I met up with Tommy today for coffee in Angel Grove Park."

_"Oh Jase... I know I told Kat to push you to talk to him at the dinner thing but... are you okay? You didn't break anything this time did you?"_

"No," he said, lying as he glanced at the lawnmower he'd broken the day before in a fit of anxious frustration at the thought of seeing him alone again.

_"Jase."_

"Okay fine. I broke the lawnmower. But I can fix it."

**o0o**

It was easier to interact with e-mail and an entire country between them. After a while he noticed that the once in a while phone calls would always come on his days off, and around the same times of the day. But they kept most of their conversations to text. Stripped of any sounds or noise that could be misunderstood.

Sometimes there were links to articles Tommy thought he might like or find interesting.

And Jason would tell him about the stuff Rocky and Adam would drag him into. Tournaments he'd help with. After Tanya released her first album with Zack's help - the two deciding to go into business together and start a recording company - everyone got a free copy. They spent a month e-mailing back and forth talking about what songs had to have been inspired by her days as a Ranger.

It was unspoken, but understood that when it hit February they avoided certain topics. The overabundance of romance and love inherent in the holiday of the month was... well. For Jason it was just too much. He'd have avoided calling Tommy at all on Valentines Day had it not been for the fact a nerdy man in Blue was sitting on his sofa, heartbroken and drunk on some weird alien booze.

_"I have no idea who you are but thank God you called,"_ Tommy had said before even saying hello.

"Well happy Valentines Day to you, too, Christmas," Jason said, voice thick with sarcasm.

_"If you hadn't called I think I might have finally snapped."_

"I know we sort of, uh... kind of agreed to avoid each other today, but I need some advice."

He could hear Tommy sigh on the other end, and a woman crying in the background. _"In case you've forgotten, I don't exactly have the best track record with relationships."_

"Me either. But you've got more experience with breakups from long term ones. I don't. And honestly I don't know who else to ask other than Kim and Kat. And this is more of the... uh... person that was left rather than the one doing the leaving." He heard another loud sob in the background in the silence before Tommy spoke.

_"Your boyfriend didn't break up with you on Valentines day, did he? I didn't even know you were-"_

"I'm not dating anyone you idiot. It's Billy. He won't leave my couch and I don't know what to tell him. Again, I was always the one doing the leaving. He's the one that's been left. Kicked out, rather."

_"How do you get kicked off a planet? How is he even on Earth?"_

"Andros dropped him off in my back yard. Look, are you going to help me or not?"

_"I kind of have a situation here myself..."_

"Really? What's her name and what did you do to make her cry in your dorm room?"

_"It wasn't me. She uh... I can't really help her either. She caught her girlfriend with someone else."_

Jason couldn't help but laugh at the irony, rubbing the back of his neck as he glanced towards his living room where Billy had curled in on himself. "Okay, let's make a deal. You talk to mine and when you're done I talk to yours. You pay me back for the long distance bill next time you're in town. Deal?"

_"Anything to make Hayley stop eating all my junk food."_

**o0o**

It was a group effort, helping Billy readjust to Earth and make a cover story for his family that was both believable and easy to remember.

It wasn't hard and not entirely a lie really. They had the help of the world famous Astro Rangers after all. The only Rangers who's identities were public knowledge. When you have the leader of the Power Rangers telling your parents that you were hurt in a monster attack years ago and it left you with permanent side effects that could only be treated by special alien technology then, well, there's not really much you can say to that.

As for how Billy could even be on Earth and not age to death in the first place... he and his now ex-wife had developed an implant for him. Hell if Jason understood how it worked, but young Justin could follow the tech talk along easily enough.

Billy didn't want to talk to him about what happened, and Jason didn't pry. Instead, they talked about other things. Like the new teams of Rangers that were popping up seemingly all over the place.

"There's a Time Travel team now," Jason had said the last time Billy had come out to Stone Canyon. it was Jason's turn to host the weekly dinners Rocky had insisted on having since New Years.

"Great, that's all we need. More time travel," Rocky muttered as a plate of lasagna was passed to him. "Remember the last time Rangers got involved with time travel? It never ends well."

"Affirmative. That is an experience I will never forget."

Jason laughed. "Wish I'd been there to see that."

"It happened more than once. So this one time Zedd used this time control rock right, and he turned everyone on Earth back by about ten years-"

"Wait! I remember when that happened! Yeah! Went to bed grown up, woke up not knowing what the hell I was doing in Switzerland! If it wasn't for Zack and Trini I probably would have panicked like everyone else!"

"Man! I never thought about what happened to the rest of the world! That's crazy!" Adam exclaimed, reaching for the bread basket.

Rocky flailed a hand to get their attention back on him. "Yeah but, man. The best part is we didn't have our powers. Tommy had no idea how he was in Angel Grove because according to him he was still living in Utah with his foster parents. Me, Adam, and Aisha.. the last thing we remembered was-"

"Oh God! That square dance recital!"

"Yeah!"

"So of course because it was Zedd we were attacked by putties. And of course Tommy being Tommy had to rush in with no powers, no memory of how he got to California, and he's just punching and kicking his way around. This pint sized ninja just fighting alien monsters like it was a standard Monday."

By this time Jason had to reach for his drink before he laughed himself hoarse.

"I can confirm," Billy said with a shake of his head. "Even without powers, he's just as reckless as he ever was."

They reminisced a while longer of their time spent in a second childhood, telling Jason the stories and adventures he'd missed while he was away.

By the time their plates were empty and their glasses, too, the conversation had turned again to other, newer Ranger teams. "So... you guys know about that Lightspeed team, right?" Rocky asked when they'd moved from the dining room to the living room to watch whatever seemed half-way decent. "I heard their powers were man-made, kind of like you-know-who's White ones."

"I wouldn't call those man-made," Jason said from his favorite chair. "Zordon wasn't exactly human. And all the powers got made by someone at some point."

"Yeah, but I mean, made by Earth people, not alien magicians."

Adam watched Billy as the two Reds argued over whether or not there was a difference between Zordon making new powers and average humans making them.

"The Zeo crystal doesn't count and you know it. It was a natural rock formation," Jason said.

Adam let them keep arguing as he leaned over to whisper to Billy. "So the base... is it really completely underwater?"

"I wouldn't know anything about that."

"Come on man, you spent years on a water planet. If anyone knows how to live completely submerged, it's you."

Billy just smiled and shrugged, but wouldn't confirm nor deny.

**o0o**

There was a loud banging on his front door.

Jason rolled over, nearly smashed his clock without thinking about it as he tried to see what time it was. "What the-"

The banging came again. He grumbled under his breath, looking for something clean. He'd come home, stripped out of his grease covered clothes and hadn't bothered to do anything but collapse in bed after work.

Another round of banging as he pulled a shirt over his head, staggering through his house. "For Christ's sake! Knock it off!" he barked as he made his way to the front door, ready to give whoever it was on the other side a piece of his mind.

"Look here asshole do you have any idea what time-" he started, but cut himself off when the door cleared and revealed a very tired, red eyed Tommy on his doorstep. "What-"

"David's dead," was all he said.

Jason moved out of the way, letting him in and guiding him to his couch. He came back with a spare pillow and blanket from his room. "You need anything?"

"I didn't even know he was sick."

"I'll get you some water, okay bro?"

After getting Tommy settled in, he managed to get a little bit of what was going on out of him. He got a call in the middle of the night before, about his brother. There wasn't time to plan a trip. His friend Hayley had put him on a plane with a suitcase and told him to go. She'd take care of his schoolwork while he was away. He was meant to go straight to the reservation from the airport but changed his mind at the last minute.

And here he was, four in the morning on Jason's sofa, wrapped in a blanket staring at the wall.

"You want me to come with you tomorrow?"

"Your job."

"I can get the time off. This is an emergency. I don't think you should be alone. After all you came straight to me instead of anyone else. If that doesn't say something about where your head's at right now, I don't know what does. What time you need to be there tomorrow?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing a full MMPR re-watch and I'd forgotten that Jason is a certified diving instructor. Though to be fair it was a single line in season 1 and it feels like these teenagers are freaking experts at literally everything so yeah. So just assume back in chapter 1 he generally doesn't do night dives because safety reasons or something. Happy reading!

No one could believe Bulk had opened a beach-side resort. Not until they all received vouchers for a free vacation opening weekend. It didn't matter that some of them were still pretty much locals. A free vacation was better than nothing.

"Jase!"

He turned around and had just enough time to drop his duffle bag before having to reach up and catch the spitfire gymnast who threw herself at him. "Kim! What are you-"

She whipped out two passes. "Free vouchers. Can you believe it!"

"Who even has your address though?"

"They were sent to the gym. And of course my coach finally saw fit to let me slack off for a little while and go have some fun."

As the two old friends caught up, a man laden with matching pink luggage trudged through the lobby. "A little help, Kimmy?"

She pulled away from Jason with the brightest of smiles. "I told you to let the bellhop get it."

"He looked shifty. I don't trust him."

"It's just Skull, sweetie."

Jason coughed as the man dropped the luggage with a grunt. "Don't think we've met," he said, offering his hand to Kim's plus one. "I'm Ja-"

"Jason Scott. Red flash card. Big, scary teddy bear. Make sure he knows I treat her like a queen."

Kim's face turned three shades of pink before burning red. "Graham..."

"What? Kimmy, there's too many names to keep track of. I'm just lucky you color coded everything or I wouldn't keep anything straight."

Jason laughed, looking from Kim to, apparently, Graham. "Well, it's nice to meet you," he said and then turned to Kim. "Color coded flash cards?"

"She also included yearbook photos for some of them," Graham supplied. He reached out and took Jason's hand, shaking it very enthusiastically. "Memory problems," he said. "Had a bit of a problem in training and took a shot-put to the face. I don't recommend it. But Kimmy's been a great help. And puts up with my, uh, leaky brain."

"I had a lot of practice early on, believe me," she said. "Graham, could you please flag down a bellhop and have him take our luggage so we can check in? Pretty please?" She had a gentle hand on his arm, and batted her eyelashes with a winning smile. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Okay fine. I can't say no to that face."

"Nobody can," Jason added, chuckling. He picked up his duffle-bag and went with Kim over to the desk to sign in, presenting their vouchers.

"Ah, the VIPs. Welcome to Bulkmeier's!" she said, quickly checking them in after they signed the log in front of them. She handed over the room keys with brochures explaining the amenities and facilities on site. "Can I get a second key? It's just, my boyfriend-"

"Of course!" the receptionist said with a cheerful smile, handing her a second key to her room.

Jason checked the tag on his key, comparing it to Kim's. "Third floor. Nice," he said.

"How about you?"

"Second. Below and two over from yours."

They made their way towards the elevator, a not-as-shifty looking bellhop following along. There was just enough space for all of them and the luggage as long as Kim stayed perfectly still in the corner. When Jason managed to maneuver his way out of the elevator he promised to meet Kim down in the hotel bar after they both got settled in.

**o0o**

Graham decided to check out the hotel's TV sports package while Kim and Jason sat in the bar catching up. "How weird is it that Bulk owns a resort? That he can even run it without everything going wrong?"

"I heard he ended up on the Terra Venture somehow."

"The colony ship that we're not supposed to know about?" she asked, a brow raised as she went to sip her long island iced tea.

"Yeah. Don't know if it's true, and if it is I have no idea how he got back to Earth."

"There's always the Astros. They've still got their ship."

"There's that," he said, raising a hand to get the bartender's attention for another beer. "But I have to ask... we weren't exactly the nicest people to Bulk and Skull back in the day and they didn't really do us any favors either. Then suddenly we get free passes to the opening weekend of this place? Something about this is-"

"I didn't want to say anything in case it was just me but... it did cross my mind when I was planning the trip." She waited until the bartender had put down another bottle of Jason and gone back down the bar before talking again. "Not that I don't love a free vacation. You know me, I adore those. But how'd they know to send two vouchers? I talk to you the most and you didn't even know I was dating someone. It's kind of freaky."

"You think... Ranger freaky or just regular we might get kidnapped because wrong place wrong time freaky?"

"Didn't those turn out to be the same thing?"

"One is significantly more involved and convoluted," Jason said as he picked up his fresh bottle.

Kim reached over to tap his shoulder. "Don't look now, but I think it just got even more convoluted."

Of course when she said not to look, Jason had to turn to look towards the door. Bright, canary yellow against dark skin. Hair pulled back from her smiling face as she was stopped to sign an autograph on her way to the bar. "Tanya?"

"Guys!" she exclaimed as another beacon of yellow had come in behind her, dragging two men by the arm in green and blue.

"Well, there's most of second string," Kim said under her breath so only Jason could hear seconds before setting her glass down and opening her arms to the first one to come near her. When it turned out the group alone could fill half the bar they decided to move things to a table, Tanya opening a tab for them and flashing a designer yellow credit card.

Once the greetings and disbelief that Bulk of all people could own a place like this had passed, again, they settled into easy conversation. "So you guys got vouchers, too?"

"Yeah. I got two."

"We got three," Rocky said, grinning."

"Zack says hi, he'll be here tomorrow. He had a last minute contract meeting today that he couldn't wiggle out of. Do we know who else is coming?" Tanya asked, nibbling the celery that had come in her drink.

"Justin's in Silicon valley," Aisha said. "Paid internship with some computer company so he won't make it."

"Justin, too?"

"I think..." Kim looked around at the faces of her friends. Faces that the last time she'd seen them were twisted with grief as one of their own lay in the ICU. She leaned forward, dropping her voice. "I think it's a little weird that we all got free passes."

Jason nodded, and Aisha murmured her agreement, echoing what Jason had already said before she had arrived with the others. "Do you think we all got one?"

"I think so," Rocky said, taking out his phone. "I can make some calls. See who else is planning to come out here."

"Maybe being-" Kim stopped when the waitress came by, dropping off more drinks for the table and refreshing the beer pitcher. She changed her wording to account for the civilian. "with our history together it just seems a little odd. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but..."

"I don't think we'll have much to worry about honestly," Tanya said. "I mean, what nefarious plot could possibly involve hiring me to perform this weekend. For charity."

"What?"

"Yeah. You guys all got free passes, but I actually got paid to come. And since Zack is my manager and business partner, he gets paid to make sure I'm here and the charity concert was meant to be a surprise so don't tell anyone."

"Okay... maybe there isn't an evil plot to take over the world," Kim said, crossing her arms over her chest with a pout. "But it still is really weird that all the VIPs with freebies are all ex-you-know-whats."

Rocky never got to make his calls because Adam distracted him with something else as Aisha came to a realization. "You don't think... you don't think Bulk and Skull found out, do you? I mean, sure we weren't exactly kind to them all the time, but... you think maybe they found out and this might be their way of saying thanks? They were in Angel Grove when the Astros revealed themselves. Mr. Stone from the Youth Center said they came forward first when Astronema demanded everyone hand over the Power Rangers. Right before they showed themselves."

"You think so?" Jason asked, a hint of surprise to his voice. "Maybe they kind of remember that time on Muiranthias... I mean, it's been long enough that maybe..."

"Guys, I think we should really stop overthinking this and just enjoy the fact we've all got a vacation together," Tanya said. "I don't know about you guys, but there's a beach out there with my name all over it."

Kim laughed. "Just don't go scuba diving after dark," she warned, nudging Jason. "I'd better go check on Graham. Make sure he hasn't wandered off and forgotten where the room is." Kim excused herself, promising to introduce them to her boyfriend tomorrow.

**o0o**

Their second day of group vacation brought them more familiar faces. Zack had flown out on the first Red Eye flight to San Angeles after his meetings were over, and then hopped a small charter plane over to Angel Grove. He pointed out it was good to be in the music business as he recounted his trip.

Trini had driven down from San Francisco with her fiance, who unlike Kimberly's Graham, had found out she was a former Power Ranger when he had found a group photo of everyone with their helmets off. Trini had unconvincingly tried to tell him it was a group costume for a Halloween party in high school.

Kat had gotten a cab from Mariner Bay, sporting a rather impressive rock on her finger and harrowing tales of teaching ballet to small, hyperactive children.

And Billy... well Billy was an odd duck. Since returning from Aquitar he'd been keeping himself very busy traveling between Silver Hills and San Angeles. With the occasional pit stops in Mariner Bay. They saw him one evening three weeks in a month for dinner with the guys, but never hosting it himself since he was never really home. The fact he had even showed up at all was surprising in and of itself to his usual dinner companions.

Even with Justin's absence at an internship they were still one man short by the time lunch rolled around that second day.

Though those who'd kept in closer contact with the man knew he'd gone through a very personal crisis in April with the sudden death of his brother David, and they didn't have their hopes up.

Jason certainly didn't expect it as he lay stretched on a beach towel soaking up the sun next to Kim and Aisha.

"I've always loved sunbathing," Kim was saying as Jason had folded his arms beneath his head, using them as a pillow. "But ever since our uh... mishap with Divatox, I can't get enough of it. I don't even sunburn anymore if you can believe it."

"You used to be so pale, too," Aisha said. "Remember when we drove all over the county trying to find the strongest sunblock on the market just so you'd only be a little pink instead of a giant blister when we came to the beach."

"Yeah. Wish I had that problem now. Love the heat, but I can't stand the cold. All that time in Sydney last year was unbearable. Who in their right mind puts the summer Olympics in the southern hemisphere in the dead middle of winter? I was walking around with four layers of sweaters under my parka. And don't even get me started on the days I had to wear just my Team USA jumpsuits. Talk about freezing."

Jason couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, should have seen me when I went to visit my cousin Jeremy up in North Dakota two years ago. They actually let me set up a cot in the den next to the fireplace instead of making me stay in the guest room. But put me in the middle of Miami in the hottest part of the summer and I might consider breaking a sweat."

Aisha gaped at them, blinking as she imagined her two friends turning to icicles in the snow, but able to prance around like 110+ degrees was nothing."That's... that's unbelievable."

"So is five teenagers suddenly knowing how to operate a giant robot and fighting evil space witches," Kim said with a shrug and a smile as she propped herself up on her elbows to watch their other friends down by the water. "It is what it is," she said, then reached over to poke Jason in the shoulder. "I'm thirsty and it's your turn to get the drinks."

"But I just got comfortable," Jason complained. "Can't Aish do it?"

"No, she brought the snacks. And I'm parched."

"Why not get your boyfriend to do it?"

"Because he's having fun looking for shells for his collection."

"But Kimmy... sis... cherished darling gold medalist of team USA... that requires me to move and I'm-"

"Yes. Comfortable. You said," Kim replied to his whines of complaint. "Fine. But you-" She was interrupted by a bucket of ice and four cold bottles of water being dropped unceremoniously behind her, and her friends.

She leaned her head back to take a look at whomever her savior had been and was greeted with an awkward grin in a pair of red trunks and a white t-shirt. "So you guys got the free vouchers, too huh."

Jason moved his head a little, opened an eye, and found himself staring at two large feet in sandals and sand. "Well if it isn't Christmas in July," Aisha said from the other side of Kim with a laugh. "Thanks for the drinks, Tommy."

"You guys looked like you could use 'em," he said. "I'll uh-"

"Okay, who wants to budge over for the awkward dork?"

"I'm-" Jason started, and was swatted by Kim before the woman turned her attention to the bucket. She grabbed a drink of cold water for herself and one of Aisha.

"Yes, we -know-. God you're worse than my brother's pet iguana," Kim said with a groan. "Get that thing on the heat rock and it doesn't want to move for days on end. It just lays there. Lazy as can be."

"Blame the sexy space pirate," Jason mumbled into his arms as he watched the pair of feet shuffle a bit in the sand. "Just throw your towel down anywhere bro. And don't block my sun."

"Really?"

Kim laughed with a slight, accidental snort. "He gets cranky when you block his sun. Leave him for an hour and he'll be fine."

"Won't you burn?"

"Haven't had a sunburn since '97," Jason said, pushing himself up long enough to turn and lay on his back. He fumbled beside his towel for his sunglasses. He slipped them on before opening his eyes again. "Are you just going to stand there or are you going to sit down?"

Tommy picked a spot on the other side of the girls and unfurled his white and red beach towel, sitting down and taking the bottle of water Kim offered him. Jason dozed lazily, listening to his friends chatter pointlessly about life outside of Rangering. If he'd been paying much attention, he'd have noticed Tommy kept evading questions about his life back in Massachusetts.

But stretched out on a nice beach, relaxing beneath the hot California sun, he couldn't much be bothered.

**o0o**

"Did anyone else get a fruit basket this morning?" Trini asked when she and her fiance met their friends at the elevator. "I mean, it's not that I don't appreciate it but... it was just sitting there outside our door."

"You got a fruit basket? Rocky and I got gummy snacks," Adam said, glancing at the others.

"Complimentary granola bars for me," Aisha said cheerfully. "With trail mixes."

Jason stared at them. "So... I got a bucket of SlimJims and Hershey bars."

"What?"

"I haven't eaten those in years. Not since I started uh... well, not since I came back to do that thing-"

"It's okay. I know," Trini's fiance said.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck as the elevator doors opened onto Kimberly, Graham, Kat, and Tommy. "Well, looks like a full house," he said with a laugh. "You guys go on, I'll catch the next one. I uh... forgot my wallet in the room anyway."

"But you-" Jason elbowed Rocky in the side.

"I'll meet you guys downstairs for brunch," Jason said, not really feeling the smile on his face.

Jason met his friends fifteen minutes later in the outdoor dining area. Three tables were pushed together to make space for everyone. He found a spot between Rocky and Billy, squeezing in with apologies for being late. Rocky leaned in when the others went right back into conversation again. "What the heck was that about?"

"What?"

"You had your wallet. I saw you put it in your back pocket when we were coming down the hall past your room."

"It's nothing. Just let it go man," he said, catching the waitress as she came by and ordering a coffee and some of whatever Billy was having since it looked half-way normal compared to some of the other plates around the table.

"So, Jason," Billy began after concluding a conversation with Trini. "I have a very tricky problem with one of my projects in San Angeles and I was hoping you could help me with a solution."

Jason stabbed at the omelet on his plate with a shrug. "What kind of problem?"

"The kind of problem only a mechanic can solve. Unfortunately I don't know any mechanics who have experience with large interlocking vehicular assault weapons outside of yourself."

"If you're talking about what i think you're talking about, then that's a lot different than motorcycles Billy."

Graham seemed to perk up across the section of table Jason and the two blues sat at. "You used to work on tanks, Jason?"

Jason looked to Kimberly, who seemed to be staring a hole through his head. "Ah... yeah. Something like that," Jason said, scrambling for a lie he could reasonably come up with and stick to. A few chairs away came a surprising save.

"Not really, Graham. Jase's cousin's a mechanic on a military base up in North Dakota. He's learned a thing or two about their transports and how they work, right Jase?"

He stared at Tommy like he'd grown a second head before coming to his senses. "Yeah. Jeremy," he said, taking Tommy's explanation and running with it. "Yeah. When his CO wasn't looking he'd let me watch him work," he turned his attention to Billy now, knowing his oldest friend was smart enough to understand between the lines. "I'll give him a call and see if he can get some time off. It's kind of short notice though so I don't know if he'd even be able to help."

Billy seemed to get the gist of what he was trying to say. "My client would really appreciate the help if he can lend a hand. It's very specialized equipment I'm helping develop and it would be good to have a second set of eyes and hands to make sure everything is operating at maximum efficiency."

**o0o**

After the awkward job offer from Billy, brunch went pretty well all things considered. No one could agree on what activity to go and do. Trini suggested scuba diving, since Jason, she remembered, was a certified instructor. While it did sound fun, Kim and Jason shared a look of apprehension. Neither had been scuba diving in quite a few years.

"Okay so..." Kim said, laying the brochure out on the table and chewing her pen cap. "Kat, Tanya, and Rocky want to go see the midday movie. Aisha, Trini, Billy, and Vincent want to go scuba diving. Tommy and Adam want to do the rock climbing... so that leaves me, Graham, Jason, and Zack doing the cooking class."

"That's no fair. Jason can already cook!" Trini laughed.

"Which is why we need him in the cooking class!" Kim exclaimed with a smile. "Everyone knows I'm hopeless in a kitchen."

Graham snickered. "It's true. All she can do is bake a cake as long as it comes in a box mix."


	4. Chapter 4

The week went by in a flurry of constant motion and excitement. Between trying out all the amenities and activities the resort had to offer, and reconnecting with old friends, Jason was ready to slow down and relax by the pool. It wasn't that he didn't love his friends - he adored all of them (though some more than others) - it was just difficult to be around all of them so much. His life had changed, their lives had, too.

He decided to take advantage of the fact everyone was at Tanya's charity concert on the other end of the resort. He could hear the music even this far out. It was hard not to when she was performing down on the beach.

He swam laps back and forth across the wide, deeper end of the pool. It helped to burn off the excess energy the Muiranthias god had bestowed upon him. Sometimes, katas just weren't enough to draw his focus and bring him to exhaustion. And that was what he sought now. Redirection of his thoughts and focus, and the bliss of exhaustion to lull him to sleep. A futile attempt to drive away the daily distraction that had rekindled the ache he had soothed with distance and emotionless text of e-mails and computer screens.

Jason lost count of his laps, no-less distracted when he'd finished and started his cool-down. Slow, languid strokes as he made his way to the ladder to pull himself out of the cold water and into the night air. He padded over to his towel, one of the large, slightly scratchy hotel towels provided for guests to use in the pool area. He ha intended to dry off and head up to his room, soothe his aching muscles in a warm shower to clear the chlorine off and get to sleep. But... that hot tub looked rather inviting when it wasn't filled with people.

Quickly he found the controls for the jets, turned the timer as far as it would go and hurried to the shallow pool of heated water. His towel discarded nearby, he hissed as he lowered himself into the water. "A little more sore than I thought," he said quietly to himself before submerging himself completely for a few moments.

Jason settled back in a corner of the square tub. Though the water wasn't as hot as he'd liked, he knew it was just right for normal people. He'd take what he could get and let the heat soak into his muscles and seep into his very bones. A sigh of contentment escaped his lips as he began to relax, sinking once again until the water covered his shoulders, leaving his head exposed to the night air and the night-lighting of the pool area.

He didn't know how much time had passed until the jets had cut out, and resigned himself to climb out and head up to his room. The only thing that had stopped him was the jets turning on again. He cracked open an eye just in time to see a blur of red diving into the deep end of the pool.

Seems he wasn't the only one who thought to take advantage of Tanya's concert drawing everyone away for the night.

He sat up a bit to see more clearly over the side of the hot tub, watching the toned muscles rippling beneath ink stained skin as the pool's only occupant swam back and forth much as he had done. Jason knew he should get out of the water and retreat back to his room. But the jets hitting his lower back were so soothing and relaxing.

After a while, the swimmer slowed his strokes and leisurely bobbed around, short hair clinging to his scalp as he would glance periodically towards his old friend. Jason recognized that look. "Just spit it out already," Jason said from the hot tub.

Tommy paddled to the side of the pool nearest him, folding his arms on the side and resting his chin on them. "What makes you think I have something to say?"

"You got the same look you did when you wanted to ask me to take over for Trey," he replied. "So just spit it out already."

"Why have you been avoiding me?"

"I haven't been-"

"Yes you have. When we're all deciding what to do you always wait for me to pick before choosing something. Even though you really wanted to do it, too."

"That's ridiculous."

"Jase, you won't even get in an elevator with me."

"So?"

"So? Come on man. I thought we were past this."

Jason drew a deep breath, shaking his head with a sigh as he let himself sink further into the water, back down to his neck. "So did I," he muttered to himself. He heard a splash before wet feet slapped the cement as Tommy approached the hot tub. Jason had only two choices.

Get up and get out, proving Tommy right.

Or stay put and let it be awkward, indirectly proving Tommy right by sheer virtue of how awkward the conversation he wanted them to have would be.

His third option was to stay put, be quiet, and pretend they weren't going to have THAT conversation.

His choices were rapidly being eliminated with each passing second, and the window during which to do so closed as Tommy lowered himself into the water across from him. A low moan of pleasure escaped his lips as he sunk lower, mirroring Jason's position with his shoulders fully submerged and the water coming up to just below his chin. "Okay now I can see why you looked half asleep when I came out here."

"Well, the sauna was closed so this was the second best thing," Jason said with a shrug. "Pretty nice of Bulk to send us all those vouchers," he said. Safe topic. Normal topic. "Weird but nice."

Tommy hummed in agreement. "Yeah, well, he did a lot more with it than I thought he would. I expected him to buy a motel, put in a bar, and hope for the best." He dunked his head below the water briefly, coming back up and running his hands through his short hair and down his face.

"You knew about this?"

"My dad represented him in the law suit when he got back to Earth."

"What?!" Jason sat up, shoulders breaking the surface. "You mean he really did end up on-"

"Terra Venture. Yeah. Andros made contact with the Rangers on the colony. The Astros brought back anyone that wanted to come back to Earth. Bulk got the bright idea to sue the government because of pain and suffering he claimed to endure on the trip. Since no one was supposed to know Astronema's fortress was turned into a colony ship..."

"They paid him off to keep him quiet."

Tommy nodded.

"Well, if he keeps the place running this smoothly he and Skull could do really well for themselves. I could see us all getting together at least once a year for a real Ranger reunion or something here, too."

"I thought so, too. That's why all Rangers get one week free a year." Jason stared at him, a brow raised in suspicion. Tommy fidgeted a little and looked at a spot just past his friend. "My dad doesn't usually do lawsuits. Bulk picked him because he found out. Or, more like remembered that he forgot a few times."

"So he hired Tanya to do a concert-"

"Because she was a Ranger."

"And all of this-"

"His and Skull's way of saying thank you."

"And the weird gift baskets?"

"That I have no idea," he said with a chuckle. "I woke up to a basket of Twinkies, cans of Pepsi, and a sack of oranges."

Jason's shoulders shook as he tried not to laugh, recalling the weird combination of snacks from Tommy's days as the White Ranger. "At least it's got fruit."

"Why, what did you get?"

"SlimJims and Hershey bars."

"That was... that was the Zeo powers, right? Because back when you were a Red you could really pack away those pizzas and smoothies."

Jason nodded, finally unable to hold his laughter in anymore. "Man, I don't even want to know how they got that information. It's a little creepy."

Tommy shrugged.

And just like that, the anxiety and the unease of being alone with him again, the awkwardness... was lifted. As they talked and found that old and familiar balance they had once lost in acts of selfishness, jealousy, and pride the jets had stopped and the tension in their friendship had faded; leaving the anxieties in the water with the stresses of the day. By the time they'd fallen into a comfortable and companionable silence the hour was late and the steady thrum of the beach-side concert had started to ebb. Tanya had always liked to close on a slower, sweeter song to leave her crowds feeling relaxed and sated after a night spent high on excitement and adrenaline.

"I should probably-"

"Yeah," Tommy agreed before Jason had even finished, avoiding his eyes as he stood and turned to climb out. Jason followed. They toweled off, and Jason couldn't help but steal little glances at his friend's back. Now that he wasn't obscured by distance or water, he could see the design work much clearer. On his right shoulder was a power coin. A bird - a falcon if he remembered Tommy's ever changing powers correctly. Saba, his former sentient sword was down his spine, the tip meeting a red star just above the waistband of his trunks. A black V - Roman numeral for 5 - in its center.

As Tommy turned, draping the damp towel across his shoulders Jason caught sight of the White Tiger on his upper bicep before it was hidden by his towel. All of these designs seemed to be central pieces, surrounded by intricate patterns that must have held some personal meaning for him of which Jason could only speculate.

Jason nodded towards the doors before he started walking, realizing too late he should have brought some sandals or something down with him. He'd have to be careful treading barefoot on the tiles to the elevator.

They rode together with no need for conversation. Hazel and brown sneaking little, quiet glances between floors. The compartment stopped. The doors dinged. Jason looked at the red number, flashing a large bold 2 at them. "This is me," Jason said, hesitating a moment then finally taking a step out before the doors could close him in again. Remove his avenue or self control.

A strong hand caught his wrist when he was half-way out of the elevator. "Jase, wait-"

Heart racing. He turned, the other man's name half-way out of his mouth before it was cut off. The doors tried to close, but the sensors caused them only to peek out and retract back again as Jason stood frozen in surprise as his mind seemed to blank for a few brief moments. He pulled back, eyes wide as he processed what had just happened before narrowing. "Tommy?"

"You told me to be clear with what I want," he said, a slight note of challenge to his tone. "If you'll have me back."

The dam broke. Jason lunged forward. The constant, needy ache that had been reawakened in him since he first saw Tommy that second day on the beach overtook him as he slammed into him. Driving him back against the wall of the elevator as the doors slid closed behind him, sending them on their way to Tommy's suite on the third floor.

**o0o**

Morning saw Jason in an unfamiliar bed with a familiar weight against his chest. He almost didn't open his eyes, fearing that he'd simply had another of his hyper-realistic dreams. But he knew there would be no avoiding it. He opened one eye, slowly, then the other.

Sunlight streaming in through the window facing east. The warm rays giving the room a bright aura of far too much cheer so early in the morning. He blinked, letting himself adjust to the light slowly before he looked around the room again in what limited capacity he could. The room was obviously a suite rather than a simple room and bath like he'd gotten. But he preferred simple. It made things easier for him.

A large television was mounted to the wall above the wooden dresser. Alongside a remove control that sat untouched on top of a channel line up, Jason could spot a pair of glasses and a dark green zipper pouch that had seen much better days. He recognized it from the times he'd stayed over at Tommy's parents' place back in high school. Before whatever they'd had between them had started.

Speaking of...

He turned his attention to the head on his chest, drooling on him in his sleep. The hair was shorter, and the man more filled out than he had been years before, his face was still so soft and relaxed in his sleep. Jason could almost delude himself into believing the man to whom it belonged had never looked at him and his friends with such a cruel, hateful and perverse smile etched into it. There was something almost, but not quite, angelic in that face during sleep - despite the drool pooling beneath the corner of his mouth.

In the past, Jason had not had the privilege often to watch him as he slept. Far too often before graduation Tommy's communicator would chirp and he'd be off and running before school. Or their stolen moments in the late evenings would be broken and forgotten as he was summoned once again to battle before bed.

He remembered the early mornings, late nights, and even mid-day during school battles. Hoping to get the monster at least to back off a few hours so they could finish out the school day after lunch. He did not miss those days for all the world except, perhaps, for the little things. The surprisingly useful life skills he'd picked up along the way. The deepening of his friendships. The bonds he might have missed with others if he had never taken up the morpher.

Jason smiled to himself, shoving the certainty that he'd made a terrible mistake stepping back into that elevator to the back of his mind. They would be plenty of time for self-doubt and soul searching later when he was back in the safety of the garage and taking out his frustrations on a particularly stubborn engine. Without really thinking about it, he brought his hand to Tommy's short hair, brushing his fingers through it and, though briefly, missed the feel of the long, silky locks that used to be such fun to grab hold and pull on.

The drooling man hummed and moved his head, just a little, to press back into Jason's touch. He mumbled something, turning his face to press his mouth against Jason's skin and smiled.

"Morning Christmas," Jason said, his voice a low rumble in his chest as he tried not to say it too loudly.

One of Tommy's hands slid up his side, then to his chest. Without looking a finger was pushed to his lips. "Shhh..." followed the movement before Jason rolled is eyes and decided to be a little annoying. He nipped at the finger, grazing it with his teeth and causing Tommy to draw his hand back quickly and snapping his head up to look at him.

"How are you even up this early?" he groaned at him.

"I'm usually up and at work by six in the morning," Jason replied honestly. "This is sleeping in late for me."

"Too much talk. Not enough sleep," Tommy muttered, putting his head back down on Jason's chest, not caring about the damp spot he'd left with his own drool.

Jason resumed stroking his hair, pushing all thought of how screwed up things were going to be from this point on for him once their vacation was over and Tommy went back East. He would obsess over it later. For now, he just allowed himself to enjoy blissful willful ignorance and the soreness in his body from a very vigorous workout in the late hours of the night.

**o0o**

The week was over.

Friends bid farewell as they got into cars and cabs, making their ways to the airports or homeward.

"I still have a few days left before I have to head back and start my internship," Tommy said after they'd checked out and bid farewell to their Ranger family. "If you're not busy..."

"I've got another two days off work," Jason said. "I've never actually cooked for you since I came back from Switzerland, have I?"

It wasn't much of an invitation, but it was enough. Jason drove a little slower than usual so the rental car could follow him back to his home in Stone Canyon, where it would stay parked or a few days.

**o0o**

Cooking was Jason's zen. Aside from his mechanic work.

Long before he became a Child of Maligore, he had enjoyed cooking with his mother. Learning her recipes as a child and helping her in the kitchen. As part of the continuing education of the teens at the World Teen Peace Conference they were given regular course work to complete, and allowed to choose a few elective courses. Trini had convinced him to take gourmet cooking courses with her.

They came in handy when he'd been called back home early after his mother's car accident. He helped take care of his mother by cooking meals ahead of time. Especially after he took on the duties of the Gold Ranger. His father had always been hopeless in the kitchen so Jason was more than happy to take on that chore.

He learned to work quickly and efficiently, never knowing when or how often he would be called back to battle. A burned black brick of meatloaf taught him the meaning of timing and careful meal planning.

So it was no surprise that after Tommy's first night in his home, he'd decided on the second one that he'd cook something. Something simple, a comfort food for Jason, but very delicious.

Lasagna.

Tommy had seated himself nearby to watch him as he diced the tomatoes he'd bought early that morning. Then onion. Then mincing garlic. Unfortunately his spices were all store-bought. Jason just didn't have the patience or the time to devote to growing the one he used most himself.

While the sauce cooked down, the pasta was getting a very quick cook, just shy of al-dente and still firm enough to manhandle into a pan.

His movements were very methodical and efficient, and mostly on autopilot. Tommy watched him with great interest. "You know," he said after a while - when Jason had put the lid on the sauce pot so it could be left to simmer a while. "The tip of your tongue sticks out of the corner of your mouth when you're concentrating hard on something." He laughed softly. "I thought you'd have grown out of that by now."

"What?.. You mean like you've grown out of stammering when trying to talk to pretty girls?"

"I don't stammer. And girls are really intimidating to talk to," Tommy protested.

"No they're not. You're just shy and socially awkward. And yes, you do."

"I didn't stammer talking to you."

"Because I'm not a pretty, intimidating girl," Jason countered from his cutting board as he wiped it down before reaching for the rest of the food supplies he'd bought that morning. Radishes, carrots, lettuce. Simple ingredients for a simple salad that was made of ingredients that could sometimes take a while. Especially the carrots. "Instead you tried to stab me with an evil sword."

"I apologized for that. And more than made up for-"

"I know," Jason interrupted. "And for the record, it did have to get incredibly drunk just to get the courage to say anything to you so I guess that makes us both socially awkward around people we find pretty."

"I'm not pretty, I'm handsome."

"Short hair, handsome. Long hair... face it, you were pretty, man."

**o0o**

The logistics of their changed relationship were, to put it lightly, not easy to work around. Tommy didn't do well with long distance - not since being burned by Kim in high school. And Jason didn't have the funds after paying his bills to fly out to Massachusetts as frequently as he would have liked. But they made it work.

It wasn't perfect, and neither man had uttered a dreaded four letter word. Spoken words were difficult not to misconstrue. So they did their best to express by action instead at every opportunity. It helped that they were both very tactile people - physical items and reminders always got the message through clearer than words ever could.

It was the tail end of a weekend that Tommy had managed to slip away - his boss and mentor Anton had needed to go to Europe on a business trip and since he wouldn't have been around to keep his eyes on his interns... It was a perfect opportunity for him to head out to California for a quick visit. The quick visit turned into something more just before they'd left to get Tommy to the airport that Monday so he could get back to the dig site before Anton Mercer did.

Jason nearly dropped the phone, swallowing as he listened to the frantic voice on the other end. "I.... she's.... when? How?"

Tommy put his overnight bag down on the sofa, and crossed the living room to stand beside him and reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. He watched Jason's face as his jaw tightened. He felt the muscles tense beneath his hand and frowned as Jason closed his eyes, turning his face away as he listened to the rest of the call. "No... No, thank you Mrs. Kwan. I'll... No, you be with your family. I'll call the rest of her friends."

Tommy listened as Jason murmured a goodbye before hitting the end button on his cordless phone. His muscles were still tense as he shrugged Tommy's hand off. A swell of anger - completely irrational but he couldn't help it - built up in him and he needed to release it quickly before he hurt someone.

Tommy hadn't seen him this upset since... since right before he left for Kim's in Miami. He took a step back, having learned his lesson the last time. "What do you need me to do?"

Jason dropped the phone on the carpet. He didn't want to buy a new one. "I need a few minutes. Could you... Start the phone tree."

"What do I tell them?"

"Trini. Car accident near San Francisco. Dead shortly after arrival to the hospital. Please come."

Tommy waited for him to step away from the phone and out to his garage before bending down to pick up the phone. He called the only other numbers he had memorized - admittedly they weren't many. He dialed the first one he could think of and waited.

When a sleepy, soft Australian voice answered- _"Do you know how late it is Jason? I have to teach in the morning and-"_

"Hey Kat, it's Tommy."

She was silent for a moment on the other end of the line, then spoke with a somewhat pleased surprise - _"Tommy? So the T-Rex finally got the nerve up, huh-"_

"You can gossip later. This is important." It must have been his tone, because she shut up pretty quickly. "Trini's been in an accident and... she's... God, I can't do this..." He ran a hand through his hair and started his message over. By the time he hung up, he could hear Jason in the garage, shouting as he hit his punching bag. Tommy dialed another number. He’d pay Jason back for the long distance calls later. He let it ring out, then hung up and tried again. By the third time he’d called the phone was answered and Zack didn’t sound exactly pleased to be woken in the early hours of the morning.


	5. Chapter 5

It was short notice. Tommy was just glad his parents hadn't gotten rid of all his old stuff when he'd moved out to college. He really hadn't wanted to buy an entire new suit just for... He didn't want to think about it.

They sat in the old red pick-up truck after the procession had stopped. He didn't want to get out. He didn't want to accept that this was a reality. A world without one of his best childhood friends.

He felt a hand on his arm. Strong and sure. "You can do this," Tommy said. "We need you."

Jason put a hand over Tommy's, drawing a deep breath before squaring his shoulders. "Let's go," he said.

They couldn't have picked a better day for something so sorrowful. The sun was shining brightly, almost as if wrapping them in the warm embrace a late night car crash now denied them. More people than he had expected showed up - outside the usual Rangers, there were others he had recognized from their time together in Switzerland. Some of them he knew had to have flown quite a long way. The realization of this reminded him of how much value the woman placed on friendships once they had formed between her and others.

Once the graveside service began, Jason and Tommy took their place among their team - the first team. What was left of it. Kim buried her face in Jason's shoulder when he'd come to stand beside her. Delicate hands gripping his black suit jacket as she cried.

He stared straight ahead, unable to bring himself to watch when the goldenrod yellow coffin was lowered into the ground. Jason was going through the motions - allowing the others to use him as their shoulder to lean on, to cry on. It was easier this way.

The crowd began to disperse, but some lingered still when it was over. Kim had gone to sit with Mr. and Mrs. Kwan for a time before joining the others.

"Hey," Zack said, nudging Jason to get his attention. "Look over there." The former Red Ranger looked up from his thoughts to see three figures in gray uniforms climb out of a red car. Tommy came up beside them, frowning.

"What..."

"The Astros?" Jason said. "What are they doing here?"

"You want me to go find out?"

Jason shook his head. "No. It looks like..." They watched, Billy and Kimberly rejoining them at the edge of the site. It was a peculiar thing to watch - Red, Blue, and Yellow Space Rangers meeting Trini's grieving parents. He held his breath as the Yellow Space Ranger passed a small box to her leader, who opened it and offered it to the parents. A few words were spoken, and Mrs. Kwan nearly fainted.

"What do you think they told her?" Kimberly asked softly. Jason released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when the older woman cast her gaze across her daughter's grave to watch them before turning her attention back to the Red Ranger in front of her. He couldn't hear what was being said, but from the woman's reaction he had a pretty good idea.

"They just told her parents," Jason said quietly as Mr. Kwan eased his wife into a chair. He accepted the small box for his wife, closing the lid and resting a hand on the older woman's shoulder. Jason looked away when he felt eyes on them. When the man gave a subtle nod in their direction. Jason couldn't take the pride mixed with the man's grief.

"We should probably... probably go," Billy said. "If anyone needs a place to stay-"

"It's a short drive to Stone Canyon," Jason said as Kim eyed him closely.

"You're not going to do anything stupid, are you Jase?" she asked him quietly so the others wouldn't hear.

"I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? You shouldn't be alone tonight. I could come and-"

"I won't be alone."

She cut her gaze to Tommy, and narrowed her eyes with a frown. "That's what I'm worried about."

He gave her a tight, sad smile before wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. He bent his head down to whisper in her ear. "I will be okay." He looked past her to his friends, to the retreating backs of the Astros as they returned to the red car at the curb. "We'll all be okay."

If he had known that would be the last time he saw or spoke to her for nearly twelve years, he would have thought of something more meaningful and memorable. But in this moment, he only wanted her to know that, despite how powerless he felt, he would be fine. All of them would move past this, past losing one of their own.

He would have accepted her offer to come stay the night on his sofa, the awkwardness of her ex sharing his bed in the next room with him be damned. As it was, he didn't know. Couldn't have known.

**o0o**

The drive back to Stone Canyon from Angel Grove passed in silence. They had spent a few hours at Jason's parent's house. Checking on his mom and helping his dad with a few light chores. Mostly, Jason just needed something to do to get the excess energy out of his system. Something to focus on so he wouldn't fall apart the moment he left the company of their friends and team mates.

A yellow, black, and red wooden box sat between them on the seat the entire drive home. Pulled from his parents garage where they had stored much of his belongings after he'd left for Miami.

It was this box now that sat on his coffee table. Unopened with a pad lock on the latch. Jason sat with his tie hanging loosely from his neck, the collar of his shirt undone and his head tilted to rest on the back of his sofa.

He felt the sofa shift under the added weight when Tommy sat down beside him. "What's so special about the box?" He lifted his head and rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. Jason accepted the cold bottle that had been offered to him and took a long pull from the brown glass.

"When we went to Switzerland, we still... had some Ranger stuff. Communicators. Old morphers. Zack still had a flier from the official Power Rangers Day. Trini found this box in a second hand store and decided to paint it. She called it our Retirement Box."

Tommy leaned forward to set his bottle down, then settled back into the cushions. "Where's the key?"

"Zack had it. I sent him the key after I had to open it up to get my old communicator out. He gave it back to me earlier. I'm going to give her morpher to Aisha since she couldn't make it. And some of the old pictures to her parents."

"You want to go through it tonight?"

He shook his head, taking another drink before setting it on the coffee table beside Tommy's. He didn't settle back, but instead put his elbows on his knees and held his head in his hands. He hadn't felt this bad, this vulnerable for a very long time. Time was, he'd sooner punch himself in the face than let the man beside him see him like this. Now he wanted nothing more than to have him near. If he could he would have taken them all into his home - kept them there where he could see them, keep them safe. It was irrational, he knew that. There was nothing he could do, or could have done, to protect the girl who was like a sister to him. The woman who had helped him work through a lot of very confusing issues after they had retired from saving the world. The woman who had helped him deal with the news that his mom had been seriously injured in, of all things, a car wreck.

"You know..." he said softly, finally lifting his face from his hands and only partially turning his face to look at him. "We've fought monsters, space witches, evil machine kings and saved the world countless times." He closed his eyes with a sigh and a slight shake of his head. "But cars. Cars seem to be our worst enemy. First my mom.... Then you..." He swallowed back the bile that had crept into his throat. "Now... Now Trin. Who's next? How much worse is the next one going to be?" He put his face back in his hands, not knowing if he could keep it together much longer.

He didn't protest when he felt arms wrap around him, pulling him back and holding him. Tommy's hold tightened when he finally broke and let go.

The ex-multi colored Ranger just sat there as Jason came apart at the seams, holding the man together for him. Unlike the others, he did understand how hard it was to keep yourself together for everyone else. To be the one they turned to. And while Tommy had been in that role, having stepped up when it was handed to him without warning, Zordon's chosen, his Firsts, would always turn to Jason to be the steady one. The rock for them to lean on.

But even leaders sometimes falter. And he was more than willing to be there to help gather up the pieces.

"Come on," he said after a long while. "You go change out of this suit and I'll get you something to help you sleep."

"I don't- I don't want to take any-"

"It's literally just a Benedryl. You'll get a good night's sleep. At worst, your sinuses will be a little drier."

It took a lot of convincing to get the mechanic to his feet and back towards the bedroom. The box left on the coffee table and forgotten for the night as they got ready for bed. Reluctantly Jason took one of the two offered Benedryl, and did so under protest and with a large glass of water.

They slept curled together in the dark of Jason's bedroom, Jason's back to Tommy's chest. Legs entwined and an arm thrown across Jason's tank top covered middle.

**o0o**

Tommy had overstayed his emergency leave that he'd called in after getting the news about Trini. He didn't want to leave, but Anton Mercer was threatening to drop him as an intern and Tommy really needed that experience towards his doctorate. Plus, working under his mentor meant he also got first shot at the job openings when Mercer opened his lab next spring near Reefside. A few hours drive from Angel Grove and Stone Canyon.

If he managed to land the job, it meant he'd be closer to his friends - closer to Jason. And get to see him more than just the occasional sneak away weekend when Mercer was out of town on business.

He hadn't wanted to leave, and Jason hadn't wanted to let him go. But they both knew even before getting that last minute call that their time together was shorter than they'd liked.

Tommy promised to call him as soon as he touched down, and to send him an e-mail when he got back to the dig site. Provided he was still allowed to use the computers after having left on what started as an unauthorized romantic rendezvous.

Jason had e-mailed Kim that night after returning from the Angel Grove airport.

Months went by, and during that time he sent a few more. He never received a response.

**o0o**

Thanksgiving was spent in Mariner Bay with the Hillard-Fontaine family. The dig was shut down to everyone but the absolute essential staff for the week so people could be with their families. Anton Mercer, Tommy had said at times, could be one hell of a taskmaster but he wasn't a cruel man. He just demanded the best of everyone who worked under him, and pushed people to their breaking points if he knew it would result in them reaching their potential.

Not even the great Thomas Oliver could escape being pushed to his limits, and he was very glad for the reprieve.

The men had gotten a lift with Justin, who was very careful for a change with his driving after a quiet word from his former leader about Jason's concerns following Trini's sudden death.

They weren't the last to arrive, but they knew only the locals - or at least the ones in California - would be showing up this this year.

Kat was overjoyed to see them and did her best to hug her friends when they had arrived with small gifts or bottles of wine and soft drinks. Though it was difficult for her to do when she had a rather sizable bump between her and her guests.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to Trini's..."

"We know you would have come if you could," Tommy had quietly reassured her, glancing down to the bump to indicate he knew exactly what had kept her. Aisha had mentioned his ex-girlfriend had been having trouble in that department... and it wasn't exactly easy to reschedule something half-way through a process like what he'd been told the woman and her husband were going through. "You look beautiful."

"Don't patronize me, Tom. I'm half the size of a planet already."

He offered the plastic bag with two bottles of soft drinks in it to her. "Peace offering?" he gave a soft laugh.

She accepted it, glancing across the room to where Jason stood talking with her husband. "You haven't been up to your usual level of crap lately have you?" she asked.

"No. I had a very terrible Valentine's Day this year that forced me to really take a long look at things from a new perspective."

"Good. Because if you chase him away again I don't care how many months pregnant I am, I'll hunt you down and give you a good lashing for being so stupid again." She said this with a dazzling, and slightly wicked, smile.

"Kat stop threatening the poor boy and come help me with these pies," Adam called from her kitchen.

"Really Kat, I've learned my lesson. Just short of Rita and Zedd themselves showing up and putting me under some sort of hate spell again, there is nothing that's going to make me screw this up again."

"Promise?"

"I swear on every morpher I have ever owned."

She narrowed her eyes and gave him a tiny glare before giving a genuinely happy smile. "Good."

"Kat! The pies!"

"Coming Adam!" she called out as she left Tommy to take the drinks to the kitchen and help the former Black-Green Ranger with the desserts.

No sooner had she left him than Jason joined him, the two men sitting in a pair of rather comfortable recliners. "What the heck was that about? You looked like you thought she was going to slap you."

"Another lecture about not being an idiot."

"How many does that make?" Jason asked, smirking.

"Kat makes eight. Though hers was a little less violent than Kim's and Zack's."

"That's because Kat didn't room with me at the Peace Conference and I never broke her kitchen table."

"And yet I'M the one that gets the lectures about it."

"Well, you were the one that started off evil so..."

"Like you haven't been put under someone's mind control before."

"No, but you're still the record holder for most times and longest periods. That makes me more trustworthy than you."

Tommy rolled his eyes and shook his head, deciding to tell Jason at Christmas rather than during this week that he had a shot at landing a job at Mercer's lab in Reefside.

**o0o**

After Thanksgiving schedules for everyone everywhere were hectic. Tanya was starting the holiday circuit and promoting a Christmas album. Zack was running a Christmas charity to which all the Earth based Rangers, even those who were currently active and had never met any Rangers who had come before them, donated what they could.

Tommy had come to visit his parents and Jason had spent a few days with his own. Brief visits with old friends to exchange small token gifts and cards were done. Jason got an invitation to Emily's wedding in Vancouver, with the added note that she knew he probably couldn't make it but it wouldn't feel right NOT to give him one. Especially since she wouldn't still be with the same woman all this time if he hadn't been such a huge help to them in high school by pretending to be her boyfriend so she and her fiance could keep seeing each other.

Finally, when schedules lined up the day after Christmas the two former leaders were able to spend longer than an hour together.

Hot chocolate with good friends around a crackling fire at what was now Tommy's cabin, given to him as a Christmas gift from his uncle John, was a good way to close out the holiday.

Rocky and Aisha had come to join them at the cabin, minus their third musketeer who was spending time with extended relatives in San Angeles.

Jason still had no idea how Aisha had roped them all into playing poker for fruity marshmallows in front of the fireplace, but here they were. The four of them were, crowded around a cardboard box, gambling with marshmallows. The worst hand of the round having to tell embarrassing stories about themselves or their childhoods as part of the penalties.

"So let me get this straight," Aisha said as Tommy shuffled the deck for another round, Jason just having finished telling the real reason why he left for the Peace Conference. "The only reason Rocky really got to be the Red Ranger was because you caught him-" she pointed at Tommy with her thumb. "Making out with his girlfriend at the park after school."

"Come on. You knew we were going steady, Jase."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it was actually THAT serious between you two until then." He shrugged, picking up the cards as they were dealt to him. "Besides, I had no idea what I was doing, had the fate of the world on my shoulders and five other confused super heroes looking to me for what to do all the time and it was a lot to deal with okay."

Rocky chuckled, leaning over to pat Jason on the back. "It's okay bro. The first time Adam saw me talking to a girl that wasn't Aisha he hid in a pawn shop for two days because he had no idea what to do with his emotions."

Aisha shook her head and rearranged her hand. "Some people hide in pawn shops. Others flee the country. It happens."

"Hey, we all have a story like that. Some just get more extreme than others." Jason turned his attention to Tommy with a raised brow. "Really? So you've got something to top fleeing the country rather than admit you might have a crush on your best friend?"

"Okay so I can't beat that," he said. "No one can."

"I don't know..." Rocky said. "Carlos did leave the planet when he found out Adam was already with someone else..."

Aisha snickered. "That doesn't count and you know it. They had to go looking for Zordon."

"Okay okay. Jason is still the reigning champion of most extreme avoidance of dealing with feelings. There, happy now Aish?"

"Well not but-"

"I still want to know what Tommy's is."

"I was hoping you'd forgotten about that..."

"No no. I'm not playing my hand until I hear this," Jason said, setting his cards face down on the box and turning his body a little towards him.

Tommy avoided the three pairs of expectant eyes on him by staring at the cards in his hand and mumbling his words.

"What was that, Tommy?" Rocky said. "I didn't quite hear you back here."

"I said I punched him in the face and tried to stab him with a sword."

"You what?"

"To be fair!" he said loudly, forgetting he was holding his cards and raising his hands, thus showing them off to his friends. "I was under an evil spell that enhanced all of my negative thoughts and-"

"Are you telling me," Jason said slowly as both Rocky and Aisha folded their hands and dropped them on the cardboard box after seeing Tommy's. "But you'd only known me for like what, two days? Maybe a weekend?"

"High school was a very confusing time for me alright."

"Tommy, it was that way for everyone. You honestly expect me to believe that what went down in the Dark Dimension was because-"

"Partly?... I mean, I still had a little free will at the time. Kim was gorgeous, you were... well... honestly the first time we met was at the exhibition and your tank top didn't cover much. You try coming to grips with weird feelings for people that you're trying to kill, against your will, and you honestly don't know if you want to kiss them or kill them from one minute to the next."

Aisha looked from one man to the other. Rocky just laughed. "See, you two are always so dramatic," he said. "You ran out of the country. You tried to stab him. Okay, not exactly the most romantic thing to do. But with you two? It kind of makes sense. Remember that time Tommy was brainwashed into thinking he was the king of the Machine Empire?"

"No way did that happen," Aisha laughed.

The three men nodded. "It did. Jason came back, remember we told you he was our extra Ranger. The Gold one." She nodded. "Well, Tommy got himself captured. Again. And brainwashed. Again. And golden boy over here got the bright idea to power down thinking that if Tommy saw who he really was under the helmet he might come to his senses. And it kind of started to work."

"He didn't-"

"He did. Got the crap beat out of him for it, too. Then when we showed up, Kat did the same thing."

"Oh dear..."

"So once again Tommy was confronted with the two people who were most important to him. And apparently the overload of weird emotions he couldn't deal with broke the brainwashing and we got Tommy back."

"That's not how it happened-"

"I was there for part of it. Plus, Kat told me what you told her so I think it counts," Rocky said, matter of factly as he picked up his now room temperature cocoa. "So what do these two do afterwards? They avoid each other for a week and a half except for monster battles. And when Jason lost his powers because they were literally killing him, he goes off and spends time with Emily, his fake girlfriend. And Tommy pretty much pretended Jason didn't exist for a while after that."

Aisha turned her attention to the two men and shook her head, giving them a few tsk tsks. "My boys... At least you got yourselves sorted out in the end. I swear if I had to go to one more Ranger reunion and watch you two be awkward school children around each other for one more minute I'd probably have shoved you in a supply closet and not let you taste freedom until you'd hugged it out."

"Aish, that's a bit harsh," Tommy said as Jason blinked at her, trying to process what she was saying.

Rocky smirked. "She'd do it, too. The weekend of the Ninja competition, when we met you guys, she locked Adam and me in the equipment locker at the dojo because she said we had issues to work out."

"I got tired of finding Adam hiding in weird places, okay. You can only walk into your kitchen pantry and find the shy Korean boy hiding in there with your Sunny D so many times before you've had enough."

In the end, they all agreed that Jason won for longest distance to run from your feelings. But Tommy won for difficulty level. Plus, he had a sword at the time and took down a megazord in the process of punching Jason in the face so... Overall it was a tie.

A tie that they were still chuckling about hours later as Tommy pinned Jason down beneath him in the bed of the guest room they'd claimed as their own. Each touch threaded with laughter and mirth, seeping into flesh through fingertips. Whispered apologies for past mistakes between gasps of pleasure given and taken under the cover of the cold winter's night.

The following morning over breakfast, bowls of warm oatmeal and mugs of hot coffee, Tommy told the three of them he was moving back to California in February. His internship was over, but he'd gotten the job he'd hoped to land with Mercer's lab opening near Reefside. He was going to be working there as he finished up his thesis for his doctorate.

"Isn't it great! I'll be back closer to home and just a few hours away from Stone Canyon. And I'll have most weekends off unless we make some breakthroughs-"

"What does a lab need a paleontologist for though?" Rocky asked the question that was on everyone's minds.

"Well..." Tommy started. "Well, I'll mostly be working to catalog specimens we find at different dig sites," he said. It wasn't a lie, exactly. Just not the entire truth. Not that he could tell them if he'd wanted to. Mercer was nothing if not meticulous and shrewd with his contracts and agreements. And he couldn't exactly tell them everything he knew already thanks to the non-disclosure agreement he'd signed after accepting the job. He wasn't even the first choice, either. If Smitty hadn't gotten into that accident...

"Even crime labs need an anthropologist on staff for consulting on weird cold cases and things I suppose." He stirred his oatmeal with a shrug. "Anyway, it means I'll be around more. And you'll get to finally meet Hayley, too. She's moving out here with me and we're splitting an apartment close to work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are soon approaching Forever Red and the start of Dino Thunder, which means this story is getting closer to the end. I've really enjoyed writing this and hope ya'll have enjoyed reading it so far. And thanks for sticking with me through this.
> 
> Also, I'm going to write up a drabble from Trini's funeral from the perspective of Mr. and Mrs. Kwan meeting the Astros/Space Rangers. I've headcanoned for years that someone approached the Kwans after Trini's death and told them their daughter had been a Power Ranger, but that her identity had to be kept secret to protect her family.


	6. Chapter 6

New Years was spent lakeside on the Stone Canyon side of Angel Grove Park, watching the fireworks show with his local Ranger friends.

A few days after business at the garage picked up, as was expected after a holiday where a lot of drinking was traditionally done. Seeing the aftermath spread out before him turned his stomach. By the end of the month, he'd taken Billy up on his job offer and quit the garage for good.

Not that his experience with civilian vehicles and Harleys were much use the first time he got to see the inner workings of Hartford's zords up close - but he was a quick study and Billy was more than willing to teach him.

It was good money, and Mr. Hartford was very generous and genuinely thankful for the extra help. After Billy had explained about Hartford's discovery and the man's desire to create Rangers to protect it, Jason could understand why Billy wanted to keep his client's project quiet. The genius was known for his discretion, especially when it concerned Ranger-related business.

He wanted to tell Tommy about it but... then the fool of a man would want to get involved because he just can't say no to being involved in anything to do with Power Rangers. Besides, it was only two weeks a month, which left Jason with plenty of time to spend with his friends and family.

Despite Jason's traveling schedule, he and Tommy had been able to spend more time together, with Jason even spending time in Reefside. He found he quite liked Tommy's roommate Hayley - the woman he'd talked to over a year ago on a really terrible Valentine's Day. Even if she was a bit... overprotective.

As a matter of fact, when they met in person for the first time, she slapped him saying "That was for running away." Then she hugged him tightly. "And that was for coming to your senses."

When she had let him go he rubbed the red hand print on his cheek, grateful she didn't slap him with her other hand covered in rings. "Does he have any other friends like you hiding away somewhere I should be warned about?"

Hayley smiled. "Nope. Just me. Everyone else at school couldn't stand him."

"Why? Everyone freaking adores him on sight."

"Oh they did. At first. The man's a lot more than a pretty face. Once he started throwing off the grading curve nobody could stand him. Except for me. Because they didn't hate me anymore."

Jason had watched Tommy unload the last of the boxes from the moving truck, giving him a wide grin when he glanced up to look at them, happy that his oldest friend and his best friend from college seemed to be getting along.

"Well, between you and me," Hayley said casually. "It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't have to drop everything and run to save the world at all hours of the day." Jason stared at her, then blinked.

"I don't know what-"

"Can it," she said. "And just so you know, I'm not into guys but your backside... My God it looks glorious in red spandex."

"What? How?"

"I have my ways," she had replied with a secretive smile. "Might want to go help lover boy bring the boxes inside before he pulls a muscle."

It was a very odd first face to face meeting with Tommy's roommate.

**o0o**

The year was going well. With only minor scheduling difficulties - Tommy being sent out on a dig in the middle of what was meant to be a vacation, and Jason wrecking a zord prototype (but of course that's not what he told Tommy about why he was three days later than usual getting back from San Angeles) and shouting that if it couldn't withstand a ride around a quarry then it had no business being used in an active battle-zone - they managed pretty well. Most weekends were spent at Jason's in Stone Canyon, giving Hayley the apartment to herself and her new girlfriend.

The Stone Canyon gang were happy to have Tommy around for their weekly dinners since Jason only did two a month due to work. Rocky was just happy to have more people at the table to talk to.

Even Justin put in an appearance when he could get away from school.

Jason should have known that things were going to well for far too long.

When September rolled around, the first anniversary of Trini's accident came with it. He made sure he was working that week so he could channel his aggression and depression into seeing if he could break another prototype or find out if Billy and Hartford had finally built one strong enough to handle the paces he could put it through.

He was exhausted by the time he had dragged himself home at the end of the two weeks. After a few days of rest and relaxation to get himself back on his feet, he'd packed his overnight bag for a trip to Reefside only to have his every Thursday afternoon ritual broken by a call from his father.

His mother had an episode. Worse than normal. He didn't know what else to do. He needed his son home.

He had called Tommy from the truck.

"Don't worry about me. Take care of your mom. I'll drive down to Angel Grove tomorrow night. I can stay at the cabin or my parents' house."

By the time Jason pulled up in the driveway of his parents' house after dark, he didn't know what he would find when he walked in the door. It certainly wasn't his mother, curled up on the floor sobbing and clutching one of his old red sweaters. His father had met him at the door, hugged him tightly. "She's been like this for hours. She thinks... she thinks you were eaten by a monster."

"What?"

"I tried to tell her there hasn't been an attack in three years but..."

"It's okay. I've got this," Jason had said, handing his bag off to his dad to deal with as he'd made his way towards the living-room from the foyer. "Mom?"

Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice, her graying hair a tangled mess that looked like she'd been pulling at it off and on throughout the day in fits of anger or despair. She tried to get up, but having been in the same position for hours her joints had stiffened up and her legs had fallen asleep, she fell back into a heap on the floor. Jason moved quickly to kneel beside her. She dropped his sweater and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

He folded her into his arms, holding her as she cried in relief at the sight of her son. At the physical reassurance of his presence and that he still lived. "Shh...." he cooed softly to her.

Between her sobs and shuddering breaths he could piece together only that she had gotten worried when school had let out and he wasn't home before supper. She'd called his friend's houses but no one answered. And then she'd called the juice bar, but the number was disconnected.

"This city's not safe," she managed to get out. "It's not safe. The monsters-"

"Sh.... it's alright now mom. The Power Rangers stopped all the monsters. Angel Grove is the safest it's ever been."

She clung to him, fingers curling into his coat tightly. He rocked her, whispering soothing words to her, most of which stopped making sense a long time ago. Finally when her crying had stopped and her breathing had evened out he pried her fingers out of the fabric of his jacket. His father had been watching, peering in to check on them when his wife had started to quiet down.

"Here, let me help you," he'd said, coming close to help ease the frail woman's body off him. Together they placed her on the couch, propping her head up with a pillow and covering her with a thick woolly blanket.

The men retreated to the dining room, where his father cracked open the liquor cabinet and poured himself a glass of something strong. Normally, he wouldn't be offering any to his son - he didn't like to encourage his own vices in others - but in this instance he felt a stiff drink was exactly what would be needed.

"What's really going on, dad? The last time I was here, she wasn't anywhere near this bad. I know I don't come by as often as I should but work and the travel I have to do..."

"Don't, son. She might not be in her right mind, but she wouldn't want you blaming yourself for something you've got no control over." Mr. Scott put the shot glass to his lips and poured the whiskey down his throat before pouring himself another shot. Jason left his own untouched for now, knowing how quickly he could get shit-faced from the stuff. It wasn't tequila, but it could get the job done with a few extra drinks than usual. His father pulled a chair out from the table, sitting to keep an eye on the open doorway to the living-room. Keeping an eye on his sleeping wife.

"Son," he said. "There's no easy way to say it so I'm just going to spit it out there. Your mother's dying and we don't know how long she's got left."

Now was the time Jason decided that shot would be a good idea. He downed it and slammed the glass on the table, signaling another.

He cut himself off at three as his father explained to him the seriousness of the situation with his mother. The therapy, the treatments... it wasn't doing as well as the woman had kept telling her son. She hadn't wanted him to worry. He had a life and was happy. She didn't want to intrude on that and add to his burdens. She didn't want it to be like when he had left the peace conference early to come take care of her.

"How long has she.... she thinks I'm 16 again."

"A few weeks. This is the worst it's been. And it's only going to get worse."

"Do they know why? What's wrong with her-"

"Her brain scans look like Swiss cheese, Jason. There's no fix for that. Just short of putting her into a coma, there's not a lot we can do. We can make her comfortable and make sure she doesn't hurt herself. Make her feel as safe as we can but it's not going to be pretty. I can't do this on my own anymore."

Jason leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and putting his face in his hands. It was all he could do not to scream in frustration. Instead, he swallowed down his feelings. There would be time enough to deal with them later. "I need some sleep. I have a lot of calls to make in the morning. Make sure someone keeps an eye on my place and cancel some plans. Rearrange work-"

"I'm so sorry. I tried to put this off as long as I could. But I can't handle her by myself anymore. Not when she's like what you saw this evening."

"I know dad," he had said, rising from the table. He stopped by his mother long enough to tuck her in a bit tighter before heading upstairs to his old bedroom. The place was a mess - presumably from his mother ransacking it in search of something of his that she found comforting.

He changed for bed and took out his cellphone, debating whether or not to call Tommy. It was late, and the man was probably sleeping by now himself but... He resolved himself to send a text. See if he was awake. If he was, then they could talk that way. If not, then at least he didn't wake him.

Seconds after sending the text his phone rang. The first words across the line were "How's your mom?"

The first words back were instead "I need something normal. How was work at the lab today?"

**o0o**

Tommy had come the next day as promised, arriving later than he'd anticipated due to traffic, then dropping his things off at his parents' home and giving them an explanation for his sudden visit.

Jason had taken the stairs two at a time to beat his mother to the door. "I've got it mom! You go sit down and rest."

"I'm not an invalid, Jason."

"Mom, it's just Tommy," he said, opening the door for her to see that yes, it was indeed his best friend.

"You've got a haircut!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "And glasses! Don't you look handsome," she said, pulling him into a hug before tottering off back to the couch in the living-room. She was nattering on about how she bet Kimberly must love his new haircut and how he cleans up nice.

Tommy glanced at Jason, who indicated he should follow him to the kitchen.

"What was that about?" he asked as Jason poured them each a cup of coffee.

Jason drew a deep breath and stared into his cup. "My mom's dying," he said flatly. "One of the medications she was on to treat the brain damage from the accident turns out to have fatal atypical side effects. Even though they stopped the medication two years ago the damage was already done. My dad called it Swiss cheese brain."

"My God Jase... why didn't you tell me this last night on the phone?"

"She thinks I'm in high-school again, Tommy. She got up at five thirty this morning to wake me up for school. I have her convinced it's Saturday and not Friday. Yesterday when I didn't come home before dinner she thought a monster had killed me."

"Normally I'd have to laugh at that," Tommy said, reaching across the counter where they stood and laying his hand over Jason's. "Hey, look at me." Slowly Jason raised his gaze to look at him. He was lost. Confused. Angry. Saddened. So many emotions warring inside him he didn't know if he was coming or going. "What do you need?" he asked, squeezing Jason's hand beneath his. "If I can do it for you, or get it, or whatever I have to do - it's yours. You know that."

"There's nothing we CAN do."

"There has to be something? We're-" Tommy lowered his voice. "We're Power Rangers for Christ's sake. There's nothing we can't do. Maybe the Astros have some kind of super space medicine. There's still the power of the Zeo Crystal. That was never lost or destroyed. If I call the guys-"

"Tommy no. Even if there were a way, it breaks the Code. I can't ask you guys to use your powers for my personal gain."

"Screw the code," Tommy said. "Zordon's not here anymore. And this isn't personal gain. It's to save your mother's life. That's selfless."

"Tommy listen to yourself. I love my mother, I really do. But she's in a lot of pain and has been for a very long time. It hurts seeing her like this, but if it's her time to go then it's her time. I can't make her stay knowing how much she's hurting." Jason looked down at their hands and put his other one over Tommy's, sandwiching it between his own. "If you love me as much as I love you, then please don't do what you're thinking of. Let nature take it's course, however long that's going to be."

He could feel the muscles in Tommy's hand stiffen at his words. His own heartbeat going wild in his chest as he realized what he had said. He'd been the first to bust out that four letter word. The one he'd never been able to bring himself to say. The one he'd sworn he never would utter again, for fear of having his heart ripped apart a second time. Just as suddenly as the hand between his had stiffened, it relaxed again.

"I do," Tommy said quietly. "Love you that is..." He swallowed as Jason looked back up at his face. He could feel those eyes searching his expression for any trace of a lie. Any sign of falsehood. And Tommy knew he'd find none. "But anything else... anything at all. You tell me and I'll make sure you have it."

Jason nodded. "Thank you," he said. "I'd better... you know.. get back to my mom," he said. "You want to stay for dinner?"

"Your dad's not cooking is he?"

"Of course not. I'm here."

"Then yeah, I'm definitely staying for dinner."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Closing in on Forever Red and the start of Dino Thunder.


	7. Chapter 7

When one week turned into two, and two turned into three, Jason didn't think he could take much more thrown at him. Then Tommy called and threw another wrench into his life.

_"Hey, can you get away for a few days?"_

"You know I can't. It could be any day now..." He looked to his mother's frail body on the couch, eyes half-lidded as she lay curled in on herself, clutching his red sweater again as she stared blankly at the muted television.

_"I know. And I'm sorry to even ask but... You know I'm staying at the resort this week, right?"_

"Yeah."

_"I got call from space."_

"From space?"

He could swear he could see the other man's guilty look without even having to be there. He sighed on the other end. _"Andros reached me there. He's been tracking the remnants of the Machine Empire. Since the Zeo team were the ones to take them out, he wants me to lead a mission. I can't say much over the ph-"_

"Tommy... We've had this conversation before. I gave all that up for a normal life. I thought you did, too."

_"Normal? So disappearing for two weeks to crash test and do maintenance on zords is normal now?"_

Silence. Well then if he wanted to play it like that, then game on... "What does a genetics lab and a robotics research facility need a paleontologist for?" he said. "Wait, you're not even a real paleontologist yet. You're still a student."

More silence. When Tommy spoke again his voice was cold but firm. _"Andros and I are calling as many Reds as we can. We leave from the NASADA base in two days. With or without you."_

He wanted to slam the phone down, just to get that self-satisfying jolt of adrenaline and feel the forcefulness in his arm as he did so. But it wasn't his phone to break. Instead, he got up to hang it back in the kitchen. He leaned forward against the cabinet and pressed his forehead against the cool wood with a sigh. "That inconsiderate asshole-"

"Jason Lee! No cussing."

Jason straightened up and spun around quickly to see his mother in her nightgown. She had her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, his red sweater hanging over one thin arm while the other was reaching out for him "That new boy make you mad?"

"Mom, you should be lying down," he said, moving quickly to her side and gently taking her arm to turn her back towards the living room. With her arm linked in his he was able to keep her steady as she shuffled back the way she had come. When he had her settled on the couch, she pat the space next to her, his sweater pooled in her lap like a security blanket. "Sit. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing mom. Really I-"

"Jason, don't lie," she said firmly, lacking the almost whimsical tune that had become her normal inflection the past few weeks. She was looking at him clearly for the first time in a very long time. Lucidity was rare, and lasted only a few seconds, a minute at the most from what he'd seen. But this...

He sat beside her, turned some to face her. The shadow of the woman who had raised him, had loved him and cared for him no matter what. She let go of his sweater and put her hands on his in his lap. "I'm sick," she said, the words she wanted to say stuck behind a stunted vocabulary. Most of the words she wished to say she could no longer remember.

"I know mom, that's why I'm here. To help you get better."

She shook her head, trying to keep her mind clear. "No. I'm sick," she repeated, unable to say the words she knew she needed to say. "You are a good son," she said.

"Mom-"

"And brave," she said, patting his hands. "I hear you. Always hear you in your room. Talking without a phone." He stared at her, watching her struggle with the words, trying to put them together as best as she could. She did her best to smile. "Your voice is loud. Even soft, you are loud. I'm sick. You cannot save," she said, indicating her head. "This. You can save that." She gestured towards the window before putting her hands back on his again and squeezing. It was weak, but full of meaning.

He nodded, unable to really respond. The shock of her fighting to stay lucid enough to talk to him nearly outweighing the shock that she knew, or at least tried to say she knew, he was... but... "Mom?"

"I'm tired."

"I know. Here," he said, getting up so he could help her lay back. He bent down to gently wrap his hands around her ankles to ease her legs up onto the cushion where he had been sitting. Carefully he tucked her in with her favorite woolly blanket. It was only now, looking at it up close, that he really noticed it. The black had faded to gray, and the yellow darkened with age. Faded red stitching had fixed the patches. It was the blanket he'd had when he moved back home from Europe after her accident.

It was the closest he could find to his Gold Ranger colors when he redecorated his room.

She lay on her side with his red sweater bunched up under her head on the pillow. He adjusted the blanket just the way she liked it at her shoulders before sitting in the floor in front of the couch. He had his back pressed against it, with her behind him dozing already. "Mom," he said, knowing she probably either wouldn't hear him or forget entirely that he'd even been sitting there with her an hour from now. "Mom, I'm a Power Ranger. Me. Trini. Zack. Kim. Billy." Once he started, he just couldn't stop himself. "And Tommy, too. And then when I left, my new friends took my place. Rocky. Adam. You never met Aisha... she left before I came home. You met Tanya though. And Kat, too."

The secrets came flooding out of him. Out of order and in a confused mess. At one point, he couldn't remember when or what he'd said that had done it, he'd started crying. It was probably when he'd told her that Trini had died, and that a stupid car crash had done what the worst monsters in the universe couldn't.

When his father came home late that evening - taking a very rare day to himself to tend to errands and appointments of his own - it was to see his son sat in the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees and his face pressed into his legs. A tiny, frail, cold hand resting on his shoulder where it had been when the boy's mother, his wife, had died.

**o0o**

He'd fought with his father, not wanting to leave. Not wanting to abandon him when the man needed him most. He wasn't going to run off and do fuck all when... when...

It took denting the driver side door of his truck with his fist in front of his father to make him stop and reflect. Grief was ruling him. Frustration that so much was going so wrong at the same time, and anger that his mom had literally died and the last thing she told him was to go save the world. Anger at himself for telling Tommy not to try anything they could think of - even using their dormant Zeo powers - to save his mother's life. He was a super hero. And he couldn't even save his own mother.

He almost didn't go.

But his father had come up to his old room hours after Jason's temper had exploded in the driveway where all the neighbors could see before he'd stormed inside in shame.

His father had a box in his hand. Small and metal. It had a little button on the side. "Son, I want to show you something."

"Dad I'm... Look, I'm sorry. I'm just- With mom and... right before that Tommy called and we had an argument and-"

"Jason," he said, sitting on the side of the twin sized bed. "You're hurting. No one should ever have to be there to watch... when... I should have been here."

"Dad, don't-"

"But I wasn't. And she wasn't alone. That's what matters." He stared down at the box in his hands, his tiredness obvious from the way his shoulders hunched forward. "When I found you two, she had a smile on her face. Like an angel. I don't know what it is or why, but son, I'm glad you were here. And I think so was she." His father didn't look at him, offering him the box. "The Kwans are going to stay with me a few days."

"Dad what-"

"Just look at it, Jason," he said, tired tone pleading. Jason leaned forward, taking the box from him and turning it over in his hands. "Push the button."

He did, finding a panel slid open and a small, hologram began to play. He hadn't seen anything like it in years. Not since the last time he had been in the Power Chamber after Tommy and the gang rescued them from Divatox... His breath caught as he saw the flash of yellow. The smiling face of his old friend as she took her helmet off. There was no sound. Only pictures. Mostly of Trini but some...

"Mr. Kwan told us. They told your friend Kimberly's dad, too."

"And Tommy's?" he said, no use in hiding it now after all these years. "Zack and Billy's?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But what I do know is your mother was proud of you. Worried, since her mind had already started to go. That's why she kept thinking a monster got you. That and you never could keep your voice down when you were upset. She suspected, but she never said anything to me about it. Not until Mr. Kwan showed us what those other ones brought him and his wife."

He pushed the button again, giving it back to his father. He pulled his legs up to his chest. "I want you to get some sleep, and then tomorrow you clean yourself up and you go home."

"Dad I can't leave you. Not now-"

"You will. You need to get out of this house. And it's going to take a few days to get things sorted out."

He almost didn't go.

He woke the next morning with a headache and a voicemail.

Tommy reminding him about NASADA. Telling him the timeline had been moved up because of new information. His tone was still cold. Still firm and slightly angry. He didn't stop to hear the rest of the message after the word Serpentera had been uttered. He showered. He shaved for the first time in a week. He packed quickly, the last things his mother had said to him still fresh in his mind. She'd heard at least part of his conversation with Tommy. She knew he was asked to do something, and he'd said no.

He couldn't save her. But he could do this. One more time. He could save the world, just as she'd told him to do.

All Jason's banging around had woken his father, causing the man to come down and investigate just as Jason had thrown his overnight bag into the cab of his truck. "I know I told you to go home but-"

"There's something... something I have to take care of," he said. "Do you still have my old motorcycle? The one from before I moved to Miami?"

"Yeah... It's in the shed out back."

"Good. It's faster and I have to hurry. I'll be back when I'm done, and we'll sit down and I'll tell you everything."

His father went back inside a moment, returning with the keys to the shed and the old motorcycle. "Here," he said. "You'll need these."

**o0o**

He was surprised when they let him through the gate. Security seemed pretty lax, but then again if they caught sight of his red shirt... after seeing so many others pass through today they might have just stopped questioning it.

He slowed his bike down rolling in towards the only hangar in sight of the gate and hoped it was the right one. It didn't take long to see the stream of red rushing out to greet him as he came to a stop just outside. He counted them off in his head as he cut off the engine and dismounted. Seven. He made eight. Briefly he wondered why Rocky hadn't shown up... then he remembered.

The Blue Zeo no longer had red powers. That power coin, the copy of his own, had been destroyed and his powers lost. But not the original. Not the real coin. Jason had kept it, but never used it. He didn't even know if it still worked, and hadn't had the need to test it. Until now. Even if Rocky had been called, he knew the man couldn't come. His back was never the same after his injury that cut his super hero career shorter than the rest of his team.

He pulled off the helmet, stealing a glance at Tommy, uncertain how they were meant to handle each other. This mission was the first of it's kind. A lot of big egos on one team. And given his last conversation with the mission leader, he wasn't exactly sure the man would be willing to be too familiar around the others.

"Jason," Tommy said. Warmer than he had been on the phone. Almost friendly even, if you didn't know him well enough to notice the subtle tone shift. If you knew what to listen for... it was frosty at best.

Jason smirked back at him. They would have time later to deal with their problems. Right now he just wanted to be directed at something he could rip apart. Something to let his rage and his grief out on. He looked directly at Tommy. "You guys weren't gonna do this without me, were ya?" A little eye twitch. Oh, that got under his skin. He turned his attention next to the line of Reds standing before him and walked down to the end. "You must be the new guy."

The shaggy haired youngster rubbed his sweaty hand on his jeans before offering it to him. "Hi, I'm Cole." Jason looked at his hand and instead reached up to give him a quick, friendly pat on the arm and moved on down the line. He recognized TJ easily enough, and had known him only as the Blue Astro... According to Tommy, TJ was his replacement. The Turbo powers must not have been completely destroyed then... "I recognize some of you guys," he said as he passed Carter Grayson. He knew him by reputation only, through word of mouth from Billy, who had helped work on their zords as well. He moved on to the Silver Guardians. Oh, he knew them quite well.

Hartford had taken to employing some of them to guard the estate in recent months as the zords were getting closer to completion. "Some of you more than others," he said, looking the two Time Force up and down before finally coming to a stop at the end.

Jason kept his expression calm. Kept what he was really thinking and feeling hidden. Oh how he wanted to hit him. He loved him but that face right now was just so punchable after the last twenty-four hours.

"I was starting to wonder if you'd show up at all."

It hurt like a swift kick in the gut. The bastard. He knew what Jason was dealing with back in Angel Grove. He didn't know what had happened after his call, but he knew Jason was having a rough time dealing with the inevitable. He hid his hurt the only way he could for now. He acted smug. After all... Tommy might be mission leader, but he would always be second fiddle to the first Red Ranger. "You didn't think I'd let you do this without the original Red Ranger now, did ya?" he said.

He wasn't sure who put their hand out first. A clasp. A nod. A subtle raise of a brow. Eyes locked, but Jason was the first to look away. The touch lingered, just a little. They would talk later. The mission came first. They could deal with their shit afterwards.

**o0o**

The calm before the storm.

The briefing had just finished. Andros had taken some of the Reds down to the science department of his ship to do some last minute adjustments to powers that were still unstable. Fixing and reactivating old morphers that hadn't been used in a long time.

Jason stood on an observation deck, watching the Earth through the large window that separated him from oblivion.

"Hey. Thought you'd be with the others getting your morpher looked at."

"It'll be stable enough for one more morph at least. And if not... It's not like I'm at much of a disadvantage without it." Jason lifted his hands from the railing as Tommy came up beside him. He maintained a modest distance between them. He wanted to reach out, to grab him and... he didn't know what. Judging by the hand shaped depressions in the railing before him, he guessed it wouldn't have been pleasant. So he kept his hands to himself. "Do any of the others know?"

"Just TJ. And Andros. And I want to keep it that way."

"Me too."

"Good. Safer that way for everyone. If there's even a chance more of our old enemies are lurking out there. If one of them took you just to get to me..." He let the words trail off, the implication hanging heavy in the air. They both knew what he would do. What he had done even before either of them had acknowledged what they truly meant to one another.

They stood in silence for a while before Tommy spoke again. Quieter than before. "I'm sorry. I know you're under a lot of pressure right now. And I would have called Rocky but-"

"His old injury."

"Yeah."

More silence. Less awkward than before.

"Mom died yesterday." There was no good time to say it. No waiting for a perfect moment or opportunity. He had to say it now while he was angry, while he was burning from the inside out. He knew saying it out loud made it more real somehow. But it also helped. "Sometime after your call."

"What?!" Tommy turned towards him then, but Jason stayed facing the window. He couldn't bear the kicked puppy look right now. "Jase," he said, reaching out. Jason took a step away and Tommy let his hand fall back to his side. He was very familiar with the early signs of the Maligorian Rages now and had learned to navigate around them. Something Jason was grateful for now more than ever before. This fight on the moon - he needed this - he craved it. It would give him some sense of purpose and power again. It would give him the emotional release he desperately needed. He could let loose his anger on some foot soldiers and deal with the heavier emotional stuff later.

"Are you okay? You shouldn't have come. You should have stayed with your dad-"

"No. I need to to this," Jason said. "I couldn't save her. But I can do this. I can fight and we can take out Serpentera together, once and for all."

**o0o**

He was right. It was exactly what he needed. It at least let him deal with the anger stage of grief in a way that didn't hurt anyone that didn't deserve it.

He hadn't had time to talk to Tommy after the mission was over. Jason hadn't expected to. Not with everything going on - Tommy would keep a respectful distance for a few days. They'd talk on the phone before the service. He wasn't sure if he should ask him to come or not. He didn't know if Tommy's weird schedule would even allow it.

But spending time with the rest of his successors wasn't so bad. Except the Rookie. But then again time had made him jaded. He'd left, come back, left again. Come back for the one mission. Cole was the active one. Well, the most recent. It was all still so new and exciting for him and Jason couldn't begrudge him that.

What he could do, he realized as they crowded around a table waiting for their dinners and drinks, was humanize the so-called _legend_ that the Rookie had only just learned about today.

And so began the long standing tradition of telling embarrassing stories about the supposed greatest Power Ranger ever. Starting with...

"Back in the day when he was still my Green Ranger he was losing his powers right. He had to conserve them so he wouldn't completely burn them out. But we could call on him when we needed the extra help in a tough fight. This joker never kept his communicator on! There we were, Megazord pinned and Billy's trying to reroute power from the triceratops to the mastodon arms just so we can try and shove the monster off and Zordon's calling him and calling him but he's not getting an answer, right."

"What?! How did you guys-"

"Tommy was filming a commercial for a local karate school and left it in his bag. Meanwhile the rest of us get our butts whooped. Next thing we know there's Tommy playing his little dagger flute and here comes the Dragonzord. Lumbering along late to the party as always. It wasn't the first time he forgot to put the communicator on, either. He was **always** forgetting it. Kim threatened to superglue it to his wrist. And don't even get me started on how many times the Angel Grove recycling plant had to replace their red and white smokestacks because someone couldn't keep his zord under control."

TJ shook his head and chuckled. "I heard about that... how hard is it to just sit in the cockpit? That way if something goes wrong you have a chance to fix it. Or at least shut it down before the bad guys can do much damage with it."

"I heard when he had the White Tiger zord he used to jump on top of it and ride it into battle. Who does that? One good swipe of a giant arm or a laser beam and he's bits of Ranger pieces in the wind," Andros said, and TJ nodded. He'd heard that story from Rocky a time or two himself.

"Okay, but this one time... now listen close. This is the best story yet," Jason said, leaning forward. "Tommy had his wisdom teeth removed back in high school. This was before I left the team. He kept telling anyone that would listen that our teacher Mrs. Appleby, was trying to hit on him and kept feeling awful that he had to let her down gently because he had a girlfriend. We thought he was under another of Rita's crazy spells," he held up his hand to stop the questions. "Trust me, that happened a lot. Turns out the pain medicine he was given after getting his teeth out..."

When Jason said farewell that evening. He was unable to keep his grief buried much longer and wanting to get back to his father before midnight. He was feeling a little better with the aggression out of his system for now. The pain was still there, throbbing in his heart like a fresh stab wound. But the anger, the rage, had passed. Now he only had guilt. Guilt and sorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was my Forever Red chapter. Dialogue when Jason shows up at the NASADA base lifted directly from the episode. I'm sorry if I ripped anyone's hearts out. But this AU isn't exactly all fluff and love here.  
> And I know my characterization is very OOC at this point - but honestly given the fact I've got a Jason Scott dealing with having powers he didn't want in the first place I think I'm doing pretty well.  
> Also, feedback is much appreciated. This story's nearly done now. I'm hoping to cap it at 10 chapters at the most, and it should lead, sort of, into _Hang Up the Spandex_ or at least the start of the Dino Thunder arc.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter, the rating goes up to M just to be on the safe side.  
> There's nothing really graphic but it's very easy to tell what's going on there so yeah.
> 
> And because I know some of ya'll will find this uncomfortable I'm warning you now: There's a bit that may come across as homophobia from a minor character. IT IS NOT. It comes across that way because of a plot point. But the character is actually remembering traumatic things in the past (which will be explained at a later point) and is worried and trying to work through some stuff relating to that past.

Tommy didn't even have to be asked. Though Jason suspected his father had called him. Billy had come. Zack had called him from New York. He couldn't catch a flight that would get him out in time.

No one could get a hold of Kim.

But a wreath of pink daisies - his mother's favorite ever since he'd done that silly food coloring in the flower vase experiment for school in the 3rd grade - had appeared at the service with no name attached. Adam and the Second String offered to stay with him at his father's but he didn't need them like he needed the others. Like he needed HIS team around him. As much as he had left of it anyway.

They spent the night in the Scott family's garage. Sitting on the back of his truck with his back pressed against the tailgate in the company of two of his best friends, he finally broke.

**o0o**

Billy and Hartford gave him more time than he needed. He was ordered not to return to work at the estate until November. To fill his time he picked up some classes at Rocky and Adam's dojo to fill the time. Staying busy helped it fly by, especially when Tommy had taken off to another dig, this time in Brazil.

His birthday - their birthday he had to remind himself - was coming up and he really didn't feel in the mood to celebrate given everything that had happened to him at the start of the month. Losing his mom... Serpentera and the stress it added to his already strained relationship with Tommy.

If only Kim would write him back he could have someone else to talk to. Someone outside of it all to help him make sense of his thoughts and feelings again. He didn't know why she wouldn't respond to him. The only contact had been indirect and even then it was only a damnable wreath of pink daisies at his mother's funeral. The only pink flowers that had even been there. He didn't even know for certain if they were from her or not, but he told himself they were. That she still cared, in her own way.

Jason let his friends drag him out the evening of his birthday, Rocky chattering excitedly "They opened a Dave & Busters just outside of Reefside-"

"That's a couple hours drive-"

"So? That means we need to get going like, now. Come on! It's your birthday! Treat yourself! You deserve it."

That was how he was dragged out to Reefside by the Three Musketeers. Kat and her husband met them there not long after, having found a sitter for the night so they could make the drive from Mariner Bay.

They were having a great time. Rocky had hit a lucky streak with the ticket cyclone and Aisha and Kat's husband Kurt were having the time of their lives with the basketball games, having fallen quickly into competition with one another.

Jason had finally gotten bored with the racing games, leaving Adam to play on his own, and went back to the table for another beer.

"Hope you didn't have too many of those without me."

He looked up and smiled. "You're late, Christmas."

"You didn't even know I was coming."

"True."

He pulled up a seat beside him at the table. "You know I wouldn't miss our birthday." After getting a look and an eye roll from Jason, Tommy added, "On purpose. I would have been back hours ago but the layover in Mexico City was delayed and-" His excuse was cut off by a hand grabbing his faded green shirt and yanking him forwards, causing his glasses to slide a little down his nose as his face was brought close and lips tasting of beer and cheeseburgers smashed against his.

No one was surprised when two hours later Jason thanked them for a great night out and took off saying he had another ride.

**o0o**

No sooner had they gotten inside Tommy and Hayley's apartment did Jason pin him against the front door, mouth latching onto any visible skin he could find around his neck and shoulders. Tommy pushed him off long enough to grab his arm and pull him towards the back of the apartment to his bedroom.

They were rough and desperate. For two men who were so tactile, so touch dependent, they had gone far too long without this closeness. Before the moon mission, Jason had been so stressed out with his mother's condition and helping his father. After... his grief had isolated him. He kept himself too busy and then Tommy being sent to Brazil...

They just hadn't had time. They hadn't really even properly talked since the night of his mother's funeral.

But this... Covered in sweat with his chest heaving, one sock still on and his boxers hanging off an ankle... Feeling strong arms and legs wrapped around him from below as they rode out the aftershocks together... Looking down into that blissed out face and dazed eyes before lowering his own and pressing his lips against his throat, nipping at his Adam's apple and inhaling the strong scent of desert dust that he had long ago associated with the man under him. Tasting the salt on his skin as he lapped at it. Moaning in his ear as he gave a few more slower, easier strokes before the arms and legs loosed their grips and he pulled out to roll off and lay on his side.

This alone said everything neither of them could find the words to express.

After a long moment of their own ragged breaths and rapid-fire heartbeats pounding in their own ears, Tommy stretched and rolled onto his side, grabbing a box of tissues to wipe at his sticky abdomen before offering some to Jason to do the same.

Soon they were huddled under the dark red sheets, facing one another in the soft light cast from the lamp on the desk across the room. There was still a lot to talk about between them. Tommy finding out what Jason was really getting up to in San Angeles. Jason suspecting Tommy's work at Mercer Labs wasn't really as simple or clean as consulting on artifacts and going out to do field research in the middle of nowhere.

But for now they were here, in this moment, warm and breathing and so very much alive.

The entire Alliance of Evil could come back from the dead at that exact second and he doubted either of them would be bothered enough to let go and climb out of bed. Jason was just starting to doze, his head tucked under Tommy's chin and using him partly as a pillow when the other man shifted some, moving his head so that Jason felt the barest whisper of lips against the shell of his ear. "I love you."

Jason smiled, turning his head some to press his lips against the nearest patch of bare skin,

**o0o**

November felt like it flew by. Thanksgiving day was spent with Jason's father, the first without his mother. Tommy had kept the man occupied by watching football, and after learning that part of what had prompted Jason to come out to NASADA after all was a talk from his father about his past as a Power Ranger (though Jason would not tell him of his last conversation with his mother for many years to come), he did his best to field questions about the monsters they had fought together but avoided as best as he could anything that was too specific about which Rangers he had been. He wasn't so used to talking openly about his super-hero past with a civilian outside of Hayley. Even what he told her was an edited version. Depending on what Mr. Scott might know, he didn't want to accidentally let on that at one time he tried to kill the man's son.

Jason listened from the kitchen where he was checking his mother's index cards of recipes and stopped to baste the turkey again when he heard his father ask the one question he really didn't want to hear asked. "What about that green one? One minute he's fighting the other Power Rangers, then he's not. Then he is again. Then he's gone. Then he's back. What was that about?"

"Hey Tommy!" Jason called from kitchen. "I could use a little help in here!"

The former Sixth leapt at the opportunity, rushing into the kitchen as if his life had depended on it. "Thank God. He's worse than Hayley was. He's... He's worse than a ten year old at the Angel Grove Ranger Day."

Jason handed him a large wooden spoon and an index card, then pointed him toward a large metal bowl. "Pie filling."

He looked at the can of pumpkin puree sitting on the counter and groaned. "I hate pumpkin... I can't eat it without being reminded of Pumpkin Rapper."

"Oh yeah... when we all had the...."

"On your heads!"

"What the hell was she thinking man," Jason laughed as he shook his head.

Tommy set down the index card and spoon beside the bowl. He may not like pumpkin, but he wasn't going to just not help. They heard the volume of the television in the next room being turned up. Some football game was on. Tommy sighed in relief. "That'll keep him busy for a while."

"I don't think we should... you know.... _the Green One_."

"Yeah... me too. So, White and Red?"

"White and Red," Jason replied, turning back to the stove and checking his pot of boiling potatoes.

Tommy grinned. "Like fine wines."

"Only the wines age better."

"You're the same age as me, don't forget."

When Tommy felt he'd hidden in the kitchen long enough he set up little things to make Jason's job easier. Leaving out some of the ingredients and making sure they were easy to reach. Pre-chopping vegetables and setting them aside to be added to whatever they were meant for later. He rejoined Mr. Scott in the living to wait out the rest of the afternoon before dinner.

**o0o**

Jason collapsed on the couch after his dad had gone upstairs to bed. "Man, I feel like I've just gone three rounds with Goldar in the Dark Dimension."

"Did you have to make everything from scratch?"

"Yeah, I did. It's what mom..." He drew a deep breath. Tommy scooted forward to the edge of his seat, reaching across to put a hand on Jason's knee.

"Everything was great. Except the pie... Did you really have to rhyme everything when I was trying to eat it?"

"It was easier than trying to put a pumpkin on your head," he said. "Though the look on your face... I needed that today."

Tommy's eyes softened. "Your dad did, too. If a few jokes at my expense made this better for him then I'm happy to take my lumps."

"Thanks again though. I know you wanted to go see your folks today but I really appreciate you changing your plans around."

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't?"

**o0o**

Tommy told his parents the next day. Jason had assumed he already had. Then again, they didn't exactly tell his parents, well... just his dad, now. The man had just gotten used to hardly seeing one without the other. Outright telling him, Jason felt, would simply result in his father stating that they were pointing out the obvious.

Well, Jason hadn't been expecting Tommy to just say it while he was helping Mr. Oliver sort through boxes of Christmas decorations that his wife had insisted be pulled out in preparation for the very next holiday.

So needless to say, he didn't envision Mrs. Oliver's reaction would be to grab him as he's covered in shiny bits of old glitter and tinsel from years past and pull him to a sofa and thrust a photo album into his lap. He'd already seen most of the pictures she eagerly showed him over the years because he'd been friends with the man since high school. But he was far too polite to point that out to her.

"Now," she said when she'd finished. "Can you cook? And I don't mean make boxed macaroni or boil an egg? Because honestly, I love my son but he's absolutely hopeless in the kitchen. Not that we haven't tried teaching him. But if it doesn't come from a box or can't be eaten raw, the poor boy is lost."

"Uh... Well, I mean, yeah."

Tommy laughed from the entrance to the hallway. "Mom, he made a full Thanksgiving dinner by himself. I think he can cook." He glanced to the coffee table where the old photo album sat, his face turning a bit red but he said nothing of it. "And I've gotten a lot better. Hayley's been teaching me to cook since we met. I can even make scrambled eggs now."

By the time Mrs. Oliver was finally willing to let Jason go, it was nearly time for dinner. Which were left-overs from the day before. While Jason had been pinned down in the living-room with Mrs. Oliver, Tommy had taken the opportunity to talk to his father. Afterwards, Mr. Oliver regarded him a little... colder than he had earlier in the day. He was quieter and more reserved towards his own son as well. So... Jason avoided any subject even remotely near personal details and stuck to safe subjects. Sports and cars. Sometimes sports cars. Or rather, the maintenance of them.

After dinner they'd helped Mr. Oliver set up the fake tree in the front window of the house, and untangled Christmas lights for his father to string up the next day before they left for Jason's place in Stone Canyon.

When they got in, Jason threw his keys in a stone bowl he kept on a table near the front door. It was one Tommy had brought back from a dig ages ago and Jason had no idea what to do with it. He'd intended to put it where it was now only until he found a better place for it. It being a priceless bowl or whatever.

But... he'd never got around to it. And it became the key bowl. Coats were hung on hooks nearby before they shuffled through the house, an air of tension between them that had been present since Mr. Oliver had come in after a talk with Tommy before dinner. Tommy went to the sofa while Jason went to the kitchen to put away the Tupperware from two households into the fridge. He'd give half to Rocky tomorrow. Heaven knew the man's metabolism since their Power Ranger days had never slowed down like most of the rest of them.

Jason came back with two bottles of water, offering one only after he sat down next to Tommy. "So... your dad wasn't happy about it." He twisted off the cap and tossed it to the coffee table.

Tommy shifted so their outer thighs touched. "No, he was. Is. He's just..." Tommy sighed, holding the bottle but not opening it yet. "He's just worried about me."

"I'm not going to get a slap in the face or a lecture am I?"

"No," Tommy said softly. "There's just some stuff from my life before we moved here that he thinks I might still be struggling with."

"What? Like this is some later in life rebellious phase or something? Jesus-"

"Nothing like that. Just... talking to him brought up some stuff I haven't thought about in years for us both and I don't think he was ready for that. Honestly, I think he would have had an easier time if I told him I used to be a Power Ranger. At least then he'd have a more clear reason to be worried."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"No!" Tommy said loudly, and a little too quickly. Realizing how that came across, he repeated himself a little calmer. "No. I will but not tonight. I don't want to ruin the weekend. I don't get to come down here often enough as it is. Why spoil it now?"

Jason let Tommy take charge that night, seeing that it was what the man needed to help get back out of his own head.

**o0o**

"Dad says hi from North Dakota!" Jason called as he shuffled in through the door. His arms burdened with many brightly colored packages and gift bags. "A little help someone?"

"Here, let me," Aisha said as she and Adam helped with some of the bags nearer the top of the pile.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Rocky said, coming up alongside and grabbing one from Adam with his name on it. "Means I get to give it a shake and try to figure it out before tomorrow." Aisha gave him a bit of a tap with her elbow. "Don't do that, you might break it," she said. "Now take some of these from this poor man and help."

Between the four of them they were able to get everything inside and under the Christmas tree. When they were finished, Jason finally shucked his coat and left it with the others on a hook in the entryway of the cabin. "I saw Storm Blaster outside. Do we actually get to have the kid hang out with us old folks this year?"

"I'm not old, I'm well aged," Aisha called back with a laugh. "And yes, Justin's actually going to be joining us this year. Right now though he's out with Tommy collecting more wood."

When Tommy and the older teen returned it was to a room filled with laughter and cups of warm cider.

"What's going on?"

"Rocky was just telling us the story of the time his mother bought elf costumes for the whole family in a thrift store, and insisted that they wear them for a family photo."

"He ended up calling my mom in tears because his mom wouldn't take the tutu off his because it wouldn't match," Aisha said, nearly spilling her cider as Adam howled with laughter.

Adam had to set his down before he dropped it in his lap. "When was this?! Why haven't I heard this one before?!"

"It was before we met. And I swore her to secrecy about that part!"

Aisha continued. "She didn't know all the costumes were donated after a ballet company replaced them. She just saw 'em and thought wouldn't her whole family look so cute for the yearly Christmas photo!"

Rocky shook his head and finished off his drink before finishing his story.

Tommy and Justin settled in on the floor, listening to their friends pass around funny Christmas stories, but neither offering any of their own.

Then it was Jason's turn. And he had a good one...

"Tommy, you remember my cousin Jeremy right?"

"Yeah. Your dad went up to see his family this year."

"Okay, so this was before all of you joined up, but right after Tommy lost his powers the first time and came out here to hide away from everyone-"

"I wasn't hiding-"

"Dude, you took off without a word and no one knew where you went. And all you told Kim was you needed to get away for a while."

Aisha snickered. "Yeah, he was so hiding from you guys."

"He tried to pull the same thing when Kim sent him that letter from Florida. So Billy and Kat took him on a ski trip instead," Rocky said.

"Yeah, thanks for backing up your leader guys," Tommy laughed.

Jason could see his story was getting off track and reigned them back in. "Anyway, they had Alpha track down where the cabin was and decided to drive out here to surprise him. I would have come but my cousin was in town for the week and I didn't get to see him often."

"You still don't," Tommy interjected.

"Long story short we were attacked. Like always. I got him to safety and then morphed to fight it off. Jeremy ended up getting his hands on a map to a evil mirror. The rest of the guys get called in before they ever make it here to Tommy. And after we save the day my cousin's telling anyone that'll listen that he met the Power Rangers. Of course none of us could tell him it was really us. But his favorite Ranger... was me."

"Okay, but how is this a Christmas story?" Justin asked.

"I'm getting to that. That Christmas the only thing he wanted was to meet the Red Ranger and get his autograph. Back then we couldn't just morph for no reason. I even asked Zordon what I should do. In the end, Ernie told me about this costume store that started selling Power Rangers costumes for Halloween."

Rocky started laughing, which kicked off a chain reaction in the others. "You didn't!" Aisha gasped.

"Oh I did. So Christmas Eve comes around and his family's visiting for the holidays. I bust out my knock-off Ranger suit and it's going really well but right in the middle of talking to him, giving him all the important points about staying in school and all that my communicator goes off."

"What?!"

"I can't get to it because it's under the glove so I'm trying to find an excuse and it just keeps going off. By this time the guys are already heading into battle and Alpha's freaking out because I won't answer. Right when I'm about to tell him I've got to go save the world my dad says ' _Oh that sounds like Jason's wristwatch alarm_.' "

By now even Tommy's trying to breathe but he's just laughing too hard so his laughs are coming out more like wheezes. "So what did you do?!" Justin asked, having to shout to be heard over everyone.

"I told him his son has good taste in watches before running upstairs to answer my communicator. So I morph, I fight Rita's really tacky holiday themed monster, and teleport back home. I forgot I was still in a costume so when I powered down..."

"You were still in the fake one!" Rocky howled.

"Did he ever get that autograph?"

"Yeah. He thought it was my handwriting though and the next time I saw him he made me write _Red Power Ranger_ on the back of an envelope so he could compare them."

"But you were the Red Ranger!"

"I know! He still has no clue how many Red Ranger autographs he's collected over the years. Every Christmas card. Every birthday card. And the funniest part is, even if he ever finds out, the only one that he can show people are the two times I wrote _Red Power Ranger_ for him because of my secret identity!"

"You know what would be really funny?" Adam piped up once he got his breath back. "If Tommy and Rocky started sending him cards too. All three of you can sign them as being from the Red Power Ranger. It wouldn't be a lie. You've all worn the red spandex!"

"Guys, we can get TJ in on this, too! He loves this kind of stuff!" Justin exclaimed. "And Andros! He wouldn't understand it really but man. Imagine your cousin getting all these different cards from all the Red Rangers."

Tommy looked up at Jason with a grin. "You think we can convince Eric to do it, too?"

"If we get Wes to do it, he might twist his arm. And Cole would do it just to be part of the club."

"Guys, I have an even better idea..." Rocky said, shifting on the sofa so he could sit a bit closer to the edge. "If someone can score me a red Ninjetti suit, next time he's in Angel Grove we should get as many of us as we can to just show up."

"I can make you one!" Aisha said excitedly. "What? What are you all looking at me for? Like you guys didn't think they were cool, too. I might have transformed a few times so I could get some good pictures to make a sewing pattern from..." She sighed. "I'm going to have to make all three of you one now too, aren't I?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, so anyone thinking this stops - Tommy's dad is actually happy for them. But this AU has that there's some stuff in the family's/Tommy's past that happened before they moved to Angel Grove, and its that worry that makes him act the way he does. He adores Jason, and he just wants Tommy to be happy.


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you really leaving cookies and milk out for Santa?"

Rocky set the glass down next to the plate of fancy cookies Aisha had stopped to buy on the way to the cabin. "Well duh. And I have it on good authority that he prefers the Pepperidge Farm cookies to most others."

"Except Hydrox. He LOVES Hydrox cookies," Adam said as he got himself a glass of water from the tap. "But they're really hard to find. And Oreo’s just aren't the same."

"Right. That's why we put out the Pepperidge Farm ones."

Jason shook his head and sighed, appealing to Tommy who'd come in to drop off the cider mugs. "Okay, you're a grown adult here. Settle this for us. Adults don't leave milk and cookies out for Santa."

"Yeah we do," Tommy said, looking at the plate Rocky had put out. "Oh man, did you remember to get the ones with the bits of peppermint bark and dark chocolate?"

"Obviously," Rocky said. "Aisha's the one that bought them."

Jason looked from one man to the next in confusion. "Okay what's going on here? Is this some weird inside joke from after I left or-"

"Santa's real Jason," Adam said as he pat his shoulder. "We saved him and his elves from Rito and Goldar. Turns out Ranger powers don't work at the North Pole."

"And neither does evil magic," Rocky added, then rearranged the cookies into a more pleasing to him arrangement.

"Don't believe us?" Tommy asked. "We'll call Billy in the morning. You can ask him about it. He was there, too."

Jason realized he wasn't going to win this and shook his head, laughing at the absurdity of their conversation. "You guys are insane. I'm goin' to bed."

"Space aliens, giant floating heads that give out magic powers, and massive evil robot empires. All those are fine. But Santa Claus is where he draws the line in the sand," Rocky said. "Man... How is a jolly, benevolent, fat old elf any less believable than giant evil flying monkeys with swords?"

**o0o**

Christmas came and went, followed swiftly by the New Year and more scheduling frustrations. For Tommy at least.

For Jason he found himself with a lot of free time after January. He decided not to renew his independent contract status with Hartford and his secret Ranger project. It was a decision Billy wasn't happy with but he understood, convincing him to at least be available from time to time to consult with given his familiarity with the zords he routinely wrecked for them so they could improve on the designs and defenses.

Jason, now unemployed once again, had enough savings backed up so he wouldn't need to search for a job just yet. But he was wrestling with a huge decision and was uncertain about moving forward.

Tommy would have attributed the stroke of luck to the strange coincidences that always seemed to coincide with the mysterious Power looking out for them all. Jason on the other hand just figured he shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth when all signs pointed to it being a good idea.

"We should move in together," Jason blurted out one day when he and Tommy were at a grocery store in downtown Reefside, stocking up on Jason's favorites for the weekend - as they did two weekends every month for nearly a year.

"Jase-"

"Just... think about it, okay."

"I have, and yeah," Tommy said as he put the box of cereal he'd been reading the nutrition label on back on the shelf and taking another down to look at so he wouldn't have to look at Jason. "I just... with Hayley moving out next week and-"

"I know you can't leave Reefside because of work," Jason said, taking the cereal box from Tommy and putting it back on the shelf. It was one neither of them actually liked. The action made Tommy look at him. "Justin's looking for a place after he graduates this May and he's already got a job at NASADA lined up and-"

"Whoa. Slow down!" Realizing how loud he'd been, Tommy lowered his voice and tried again. "Jase, stop."

"Sorry I-"

"No, it's okay. Really. I just didn't expect to be having this conversation in the breakfast aisle of Whole Foods today."

**o0o**

Jason should have known life was going too well for too long.

A week and a half after their awkward conversation in the Whole Foods, Jason was woken in the middle of the night by a frantic phone call.

"Hayley?! Hayley slow down!"

All he managed to get out of her was Reefside Hospital, Tommy, and accident.

He was half-way out the door before even hanging up.

The entire three hour ride went by in two as he ran nearly every light and sped down the highway. Nearly getting into an accident himself twice, Jason couldn't stop thinking about the last time. Hayley's voice replaced by Rocky's on the answering machine as he curled up in on himself in Kim's kitchen floor.

This time he would be there. This time when the foolish son of a bitch woke up Jason would be there to remind him exactly how ridiculously reckless he was.

**o0o**

He strode down the corridor like a man possessed, wild eyes darting from side to side as he checked room numbers to match the one on the scrap of paper in his hand. His helmet gripped tightly by the strap in his other.

"Jason," she said when she spotted him, rushing to wrap her arms around him. He wrapped one around her and glanced to the door she'd been standing outside.

"How bad is he?"

"He's asleep right now."

"What happened?"

She glanced around, spotted some nurses, and took his hand. "It's best we talk in private," she said, leading him into the room.

The former Red Ranger was guided by instinct. Moving to the bedside and taking a sleep-limp hand between both of his own. He barely registered the click of the door as Hayley closed it behind them. His entire focus was on the man in the bed. The man to whom danger seemed to cling like a jilted lover.

"I don't know much," she said coming up along the other side of the bed. "He was found washed up out by the docks in the warehouse district."

"What the hell was he doing out there?"

"Jason... the work he was doing with Mercer Labs it wasn't exactly normal."

"I know. I don't know what he was doing, but I know it was more than just consulting about bones and artifacts."

"Like you and your mechanic work in San Angeles?"

"Yeah..." he said softly, one of his hands letting go only to to rest on Tommy's upper arm, resting it there as if to reassure himself that the man was still in one piece. Still alive and breathing.

"He found something on one of his earliest digs. He knew he was supposed to catalog it with the rest and notify his professor but... he said he could feel this energy coming off them."

Jason drew in a slow, deep breath. "Don't tell me..."

"I helped him build morphers. He was using resources at the lab to work on bigger parts of the project. We needed funding so when he got the job with Mercer..."

"He convinced his boss to bankroll the project if he helped Mercer with his." He squeezed Tommy's hand, then turned his eyes away to look at Hayley. "Why didn't he tell me any of this? If what he was getting himself into was this dangerous-"

"I told him he needed to tell you. Especially after we realized what he found. You know how stubborn he is. You wanted a normal life. Or as close to normal as ex-Power Rangers can get."

"Last week we just talked about moving in together. Did he really think he could hide all this from me after that?"

She reached across the sleeping man to lay a comforting hand on his arm. "I don't know. We'll have to ask him when he wakes up."

When Tommy came around hours later, it was to find Hayley typing in a corner on her laptop and Jason asleep in the chair beside the bed with his head resting on his arms. His voice was raspy with sleep. "How?... Where?..."

At the sound of his voice Hayley closed her laptop and moved to the side vacant side of his hospital bed. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

"The island- the lab - the research - everything is gone."

"I didn't mean explain to me," she said, nodding to the sleeping man opposite her. "You could have been killed."

"Hayley I-"

"You've been with him for nearly two years Tommy and you never thought to change your emergency contact?" she hissed, trying not to wake him. When Tommy opened his mouth, she interrupted again. "You need to tell him, and not just what you think he needs to know either. You tell him everything and let him decide whether or not it's too much for him to handle."

"What if I have to use one of those morphers? After this I can't risk his life like that. This is my mess. I'll deal with it."

"I swear to God Tommy if you chase him away again I won't be there to pick up the pieces. All the tiny, half-drunk, sad and confused little pieces."

"You've made your point," he muttered tiredly.

Jason wasn't snoring. Hayley hadn't noticed - not that she'd spent enough time around him while he slept to know Jason snored softly when he was in a deep sleep.

But Tommy did. Even before they had gone to Emily's friend and gotten one another's most intimate and personal brands inked permanently into their skins, Tommy had already committed his best friend’s sleep habits to memory. It wasn't a hard thing to do when you spent late nights in the Command Center or the Power Chamber, laid up on a slab or a cot trying to catch a few winks between frequent monster attacks. Or the rare Ranger duty-free stretches where friends would pick a house, pile up with a late night movie and some snacks, maybe get a little homework done and it inevitably became a contest of who could stay awake the longest.

Jason snored. It was never a loud, obtrusive sound like it was with Rocky. How Adam put up with that, he could never figure out.

As Tommy lifted a hand to rest on Jason's head, running his fingers through the soft, short hair he knew that the man might not be fully coherent at the moment. But he was still listening. Years of broken sleep cycles and restless nights had taught him that when Jason wasn't snoring, his body was in a state of restful alert. The slightest change in sound would wake him easily - a Pavlovian response ingrained from years of hearing the alert signal from their communicators.

He might not recall everything said between Tommy and Hayley when he woke, but he would remember that they were hiding something from him.

**o0o**

Jason had questioned Tommy's suggestion that they go to his cabin down in Angel Grove two days after Tommy had been released from the hospital. Now that he was fuming, angry and simmering, he could understand why. Jason's unpredictable temper.

They had sat down across from one another. Jason went first, starting the conversation neither man wanted to have but both knew had been put off for far too long. He told Tommy exactly what he went to San Angeles to do, a bit of it the man already knew thanks to Hayley's information digging. He couldn't explain in full what Hartford had to gain from Billy's and Jason's help with the zords. All he could tell him was that something Hartford had uncovered made him start preparing for potential problems.

When Tommy pressed for more details, all Jason would tell him - could tell him truthfully - was that his job had been to creatively wreck the things in as many different ways as possible, create on-site maintenance and repair procedures if the zords couldn't be returned to base for proper repairs, fix and help build the things, and repeat as many times as it took before they stopped being wreck-able. At which point, he moved on to the next one to start the process over again.

Tommy wasn't happy about it. Tommy was very far from even remotely pleased about it. Not even when Jason had explained that Billy had made him sign a contract preventing him from talking to anyone about it. And hell he was breaking contract now just telling Tommy about it in the first place.

When it was Tommy's turn he was hesitant to spill everything he had been working on with Hayley and Anton. It was ridiculous to hold anything back from him, he knew that. Despite their rocky start, and the years of awkward avoidance on both their parts he trusted Jason more than he trusted Hayley, or his parents, or even Zordon. He trusted Jason with more than just his heart but with his life. A trust and faith in one another that Divatox had exposed as a double edged sword and had briefly replaced that trust with abject fear and horror.

In the end, though, Tommy told him everything. How could he not? Jason had opened up and been honest with him. It was fair that he did the same.

He watched his lover's face as he told his tale, starting from the beginning. His second ever dig as a student. He needed the extra credit to make up for a few failed tests, and helping with the dig would replace the two lowest test scores. But he had to spend an entire week on site. He'd spent his entire spring break covered in dust and dirt. His last day on the dig, he found them, like he was drawn to them somehow. His Ranger instincts had told him to keep them and hide them.

Jason sat in silence as Tommy continued his explanation, delving into his work with Hayley on a potential Power Rangers project and using the resources available to him at Mercer Labs he could further his research while also helping his academic mentor Dr. Anton Mercer with his own experiments.

"None of it matters now," Tommy had said when he was finished. "I had to destroy everything. This... this creature somehow got into the labs and had reprogrammed the drone workers I designed and created into his own personal foot-soldiers. I couldn't risk all that research falling into the wrong hands."

"You created drones... You... you made your own Cogs."

Tommy nodded. "Not one of my best ideas. But they weren't meant to be weaponized like that. They were created to be a workforce. Used in place of humans when conditions were too dangerous for people. Like mining, or archaeological digs where the environment is too harsh for people to work long periods of time. Train yards to keep people from being crushed between the cars. Not what this monster did. Not turned into bloodthirsty monsters."

Jason had risen from the table, turning away from him before he said or did anything he would regret later.

"Jase, I'm sorry. I should have told you when I got the job at the lab. When it was obvious this-" he gestured between himself and Jason. "Was more than a fling."

Jason had intended to just pace a bit, maybe go to another room to cool down. Now... now he wanted nothing more than to hit something. Which made him even more frustrated because he didn't used to be this way. He didn't used to have such a short temper. He didn't... "I'm changing into some workout gear and going for a run," he said finally.

"I'll come with y-"

"No!" Jason snapped, then tried to soften his bristly tone. "No. I need to be alone for a little while. Cut loose and blow off some steam."

"Jason-"

"I love you, Christmas," he said, hoping the affectionate name might help reassure the man he wasn't running out on him. Just... he needed some space to process. "But right now I can't even be in the same building as you, let alone room."

When he passed back through the cabin ten minutes later, Tommy hadn't moved from the table, and Jason swore that if he could stare any harder at the wooden surface in front of him, he might just bore a hole into it.

"I... might be a while. Have my phone just in case." He didn't stop long enough to know whether or not what he said had registered before he was out the door, picking a direction at random and jogging off to the trees.

He ran, burning off as much of the excess energy and adrenaline coursing though him as he could. It took the edge off but it wast enough. He knew what he needed. Knew what this thing inside him wanted - had wanted since the moon mission. The zord testing had been enough before then. The rush of excitement. The destruction of a machine as powerful as a zord - even if it were ultimately to make them better and stronger for some potential Ranger team - had been enough to keep the beast sated. Until the moon, it was fine. It was routine. He could keep it under control.

But now it had a taste for battle. For conflict. And he didn't know how much longer he could keep it under control.

Jason came to a stop at the lake. He didn't realize he'd started back towards the cabin until he found himself near the small, private enclosure and the signs that indicated the start of private property rather than public. He crossed the barrier that only existed on maps in the city hall records department, and started for the cabin.

The sun was going down and the heat of the day had started to fade, and with it the chills that the drops in temperature always caused him. Jason spotted a hammock. He was around the back of the cabin then. He sat down, staring at the softly glowing windows nearby, forced now to think back on what had caused him to get so angry in the first place.

It wasn't entirely anger. It was excitement and anticipation. A longing for destruction and he could not allow it to win out. Now knowing that Tommy held onto and kept hidden a powerful source of energy, and had built morphers to go with them? A part of him wanted to seize it for himself. That part which had awakened when his mother had died. The part that he had allowed to cut loose and thrash Cogs while in the old red and white uniform.

Maybe Kim had the right idea. Cut herself off from everyone and everything in her old life. Remove the temptations that fed the... thing... that had taken root inside them. But he couldn't do that. He tried ignoring his own desires before. It took him all the way to Switzerland and a Peace Conference he could never devote his full attention to anyway. He had tried to remove the temptation once already by removing himself from the situation.

And yet here he sat. On a hammock in the back end of a vacation property owned by the object of his most base carnal desires and the unknowing catalyst of this longing for battle and blood that had awakened in him.

If only he could take up the morpher again-

Jason sighed, shook his head and hid his face in his hands. He couldn't go on like this. He needed to do something. Something that would burn off this energy, this blood-lust, but not wreck his life. Not put the ones he loved in harm's way like Rangering would - if that was even an option at this point.

But most of all if Tommy was going to be mixed up this deep in a situation that may escalate to the point when those morphers he and his friend had made would be needed... he couldn't be around. He couldn't risk slipping up and forcing the man he loved to choose between him and the safety of others. They had both been in enough situations like that together to know what the outcome would be. If the situation were reversed, Jason would sacrifice himself for the safety of the others. But Tommy... He knew - they both knew - that if it were anyone else then the man would err on the side of caution. But if it were someone he cared about?...

Christ. Tommy was ready to sacrifice his entire team's safety going through a dimensional barrier on a ghost ship while a man down, knowing they needed all five of the Turbo keys to get through to Muiranthias. Had Justin not shown up when he did... Kat had told him she was certain Tommy would have given the order to board the ship and they'd figure it out on the way there. So no, sticking around and letting himself be exposed to constant monster attacks and trying to stay out of it would not be an option. Couldn't be.

Another chill washed over him, reminding him of the slight drop in temperature evenings brought with them. Reluctantly Jason stood, rubbed at his face as he tried to think of what to tell Tommy when he went inside, and headed for the back door of the cabin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Santa is real and canon in the PR universe folks. The episode "I'm Dreaming of a White Ranger" proved this to be the case. It was mostly Rito causing trouble at the North Pole but Zedd and Rita did eventually send Goldar down there, too.
> 
> Additionally, if you haven't had Hydrox cookies, you're missing out.


	10. Chapter 10

When he came in there was no sign of Tommy in the kitchen or at the table where he'd left him. Not surprising, he'd been gone for hours. Jason stopped by the fridge long enough to grab a bottle of water before moving further through the cabin. He passed by the sitting room on his way to the bathroom to get a shower. The single-minded focus led him to almost miss man sitting in a chair chosen solely because he could see all entrances and exits of the room by peering over the top of his magazine. He halted, briefly, at the sound of Tommy clearing his throat to get his attention.

"You alright now?"

"Yeah," Jason lied. He wasn't alright. He hadn't been alright for a long time. He didn't think he would ever be alright again. "Just gonna... shower. I stink."

"You hungry? I could make you a sandwich for after or-"

"No," he lied again. He was starving. But he couldn't trust the anxiety induced nausea twisting through his guts. "I'm good," he said, then moved onward with his mission. A shower to relax his muscles. To shed the stink of dirt and sweat. Buy him a little more time to put his thoughts in order.

Under the scalding spray - merely warmer than usual to him - he could feel his tense muscles begin to relax. The anxiety stripping away layer by layer as he slotted things Tommy had said earlier in order, finally able to think clearly and rationally about them. He couldn't be angry at the man, just at the situation. He was doing the only thing he knew to do - followed his gut instinct. He didn’t tell Jason, or anyone outside of Hayley because he wanted to protect his friends. Given the time he found those... rock things... Tommy had been every opportunity to tell them about his discovery. About his research. About his life after he left Angel Grove. But he didn't.

So much since they had renewed their friendship that Thanksgiving where Kat had nagged him into just talking to him made sense now. There was only one thing in his life Tommy had ever actually successfully lied about that Jason knew of. Being a Power Ranger. Everything else... he just never talked about. He turned off the water when it began to cool and stood, breathing in the steam built up in the shower stall as he let the last of his unreasonable aggression melt away for the night. Letting himself feel tired rather than stubbornly ignore his body's need for rest, however little it may now require since Muiranthias.

When Jason stepped into the bedroom, towel slung low around his hips, he found Tommy stretched out on the bed, tracing the red lines etched into his hip. He took a moment to look him over. His upper body, his arms, canvases of color displaying the man's entire life in a language anyone who wished to learn it could read. Much of it Jason knew. The disks, the rounded designs enclosed around certain symbols of Power. Or the image of a sentient, speaking weapon that traced the line of the multi-colored Ranger's spine.

The beautiful imagery he spent many a weekend and night attempting to decipher was broken now by patches of purple, blue, and yellow discolorations. Not bothering with the door - they were the only ones there - he crossed the room and dropped his towel on the floor before climbing onto the bed. Tommy stopped his idle tracing and shifted on the bed to turn to him. "Jase I'm-"

His words were stopped by the firmness of lips on his as hands reached out to ghost across injured flesh. Across bruises and scratches. Tracing every scrape and raised line that didn't belong as if the mere action could will them away. A reassurance that Tommy was there, with him, still alive and breathing.

The firmness of the kiss ebbed, becoming slow and playful as they began to tease one another. The kiss ended as Tommy nipped at Jason's lower lip with this teeth.

**o0o**

They spent days at the cabin, taking advantage of both men's current unemployed status to work out their problems. To come clean with their secrets - all of their secrets. Like the night Trini had found Jason truly drunk for the first time and sat up all night with him in the bathroom he shared with Zack, rubbing his back as he threw up between fits of anger and sadness. Sad that his mom had nearly died in a monster attack in Angel Grove. Her car was under a bridge that collapsed. There wasn't time to get out and get to safety. Angry that the Rangers - that Tommy and his team - hadn't been there soon enough to prevent it. And then the frustration he'd felt when he realized he was putting blame where it didn't belong and further complicating his already confused emotions. Which would trigger another prayer to the porcelain god.

Or like the real reason Tommy was late to the surprise group vacation at Bulkmeier's... and the fact that he hadn't wanted to go until Hayley blackmailed him into it by threatening to expose his Power Ranger past if he didn't grow up and go face it - and the person he was really avoiding. Especially after Hayley had found out what Tommy had called Kat in bed that caused them to break up.

Or petty things, like the fact most of their mutual friends had no idea Tommy had been working towards a Doctorate. They had figured he was just taking ages since he hadn't exactly been the best of students in school. Kat knew. Hayley and Jason knew. A few people Tommy mentioned that Jason hadn't even known knew... well, he didn't know them by the names given at least. And that was only because they all belonged to some support group.

A support group that the ex-multi colored Ranger took over an hour to explain and describe over lunch. A group for ex-villains and evil Rangers who still struggled with their checkered pasts and certain things that try as they might, couldn't be overcome with normal therapy.

But the most eye-opening of the confessions that passed between them happened as they lay on the lake shore, drying out after a swim beneath the California sun on their last day alone at the cabin.

"I know I'm not the easiest person to be around anymore," Jason said. "I get mad easy-"

"Since being a Ranger you've had a lot of crap going on-"

"Tom, don't interrupt," Jason said, opening one eye to peek out the corner at the man laying next to him. "My temper's a lot shorter. A lot shorter now than it was before we took out the rest of the Machine Empire. That mission, and what happened those few days around it, something in me kind of change, or broke I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"That thing I've got from, you know, the island. It's getting harder to control it."

"I thought you managed to beat it, back when you were with Kim in Miami."

"I did," Jason said, propping himself up on his elbows so he could stare down his body towards the lake. "The zord thing... it helped. I got to wreck stuff. Big stuff. But nobody got hurt and in the end what I was doing was helping make the things stronger. I knew Billy wouldn’t be involved if it was anything that was gonna hurt people. But now it's like... I don't have an outlet. Whatever I did to get it under control just doesn't work anymore. I need a fight. I need to break something. I need to feel it snap in my hands."

He felt a hand on his forearm. Tommy had sat up and turned, looking at him with those warm, concerned hazel eyes that begged to let him help somehow. Someway. He drew a deep breath and pulled away. He sat up all the way, bringing his legs inward to sit with them folded in front of him. "What you told me the other day, about finding those rocks-"

"Dino gems," Tommy corrected him.

"Yeah, those. And making morphers and just... Tommy, what if you end up being a Ranger again and I lose control over this thing?"

"Jason, you're strong. You beat it once, you can beat it again. I believe in you."

"What if I can't? The spell part of this was already broken. This isn't some brainwashing that can be undone. If I lost control and put Angel Grove, or even Reefside at risk, could you order a team to take me out?"

"Hayley and I would find another way."

"If that fails?"

"Jason..."

"You know I'm right. I know how hard it is to make that call because I had to do it. I barely knew you then, so it was easy. Everything that's between us now? I couldn't make that call again." He watched Tommy from the corner of his eye. "I don't think you could either."

"So we'll plan for the worst and hope for the best. It's all we can do."

"Or..." Jason said. "I leave."

"Not happening again."

"Think about this rationally Tommy. You just happen to find these so called Dino gems with an energy that you can actually sense and feel. You think something like that just happens for no reason? It can't be a coincidence that this creature shows up at your lab and wrecked the place. Chances are it's going to turn up again and knowing your luck it's going to make you its pet project."

Tommy clenched his fist on the towel, the muscles in his shoulders tensing. "So your great idea is to what? Break up with me? Abandon me again? Of course. It's what you're good at. I should have known this was too good. Everyone leaves in the end. You, Trini, Zack. Kim. Even Zordon left. Hell, you left twice. Maybe third time-"

"Are you hearing yourself? I'm not breaking up with you, Christmas." Jason let out a long, aggravated sigh. "I'm just pointing out that you have enemies again. If the wrong people find out about us then I'm a liability. All it takes for me is one bad day. God forbid I get captured and put under a spell. I don't want to be turned into someone's evil Ranger just because you blew up an entire fucking island to get rid of them."

He turned, reaching out to put his hand over Tommy's fist. "I'm not saying I should leave forever. That's not what this is. I should go so I don't lose myself to this monster inside and so you can focus on what's important. You were drawn to those stones for a reason. You've been hiding them all this time and preparing for something you didn't even really know much about. I won't disappear again. You can always reach me on Billy's secure e-mail server. I just can't be around whatever is going on around you."

Tommy wouldn’t look him in the eye. A sign he was struggling with a response. Wanting to argue, but knowing he wouldn't win. They were both too stubborn to admit when either one was right or wrong. "Let me put this another way. More... direct," Jason said, reaching over with his other hand and putting his palm against Tommy's cheek. He turned his head, making him look him in the eye. "I might keep you mostly grounded, but you keep me fighting. If you had died in that explosion I wouldn't have a reason to keep fighting this demon inside. If you got hurt bad enough... if you died... I won't be able to stop myself."

"If you leave, I want your word that when it's over you'll come home to me."

"I want your word that when it's over, you're out. No more Rangering."

"No one's been synced to the Grid as many times as I have. I can't promise you something I have no control over. What do we do if it never ends? If I keep being drawn back in?"

"Well... we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Until then, as you said. We plan for the worst."

"And hope for the best."

Jason nodded. "Maybe if we're lucky, we might land somewhere in the middle."

**o0o**

Jason took up odd jobs around Angel Grove and Stone Canyon, doing everything from fixing up cars and motorcycles to patching roofs and painting houses. Tommy had moved out of his apartment and into a place on the outskirts of Reefside that he and Hayley had bought to use as a lab in the early days of their research together. The natural cave system below the house made for an excellent hide-away for the stones Tommy had found, and the tech Hayley had been developing.

The pair of them had sort-of lived in it, with Tommy splitting his time between the apartment, the house, and the island that, well, was no more. With the rest of the research gone and his boss missing, presumed dead in the island explosion (Tommy believed he was missing while Hayley was pretty sure the man was dead), Tommy had to lay low. Living full time at the house-lab made sense. He could also better guard the secrets that lay beneath it.

Jason had driven out there a few times before it had been fully furnished, but never really got a good look at the place.

By the time Justin had graduated college and was ready to start his job at NASADA, it was agreed that Jason would move into the cabin at the lake. It would be easier for him to pick up and leave if or when the time came.

Half-way through the summer, Hayley had convinced Tommy to take the open teaching position at Reefside High. Her reasoning, and while neither man liked it, was sound.

"Look, all I'm saying is that we've been in Reefside all this time, hiding the Dino Gems," she said, waving her chopsticks at Tommy across the table at the cabin. "And that thing, what did it call itself?"

"Mesagog," Tommy said, picking at his spring roll.

"Right. This Mesagog thing appears at the Mercer Labs site on a secluded and restricted island just off the coast of Reefside. Close enough that you washed up in the warehouse district. From what research I've done into how the Grid operates, and according to theories from your friend Bill, chances are if Rangers pop up, they're going to be teenagers. Where do you find teenagers?"

"At a high-school," Jason replied, picking through the packets of sauces until he found the sweet chili. "Gotta admit, that's usually the case for naturally occurring Powers."

"No it's not."

"Yeah, it is. Look at Wes, Eric, and Cole. The Time Force powers were man-made. They could be given to anyone as long as they meet whatever requirements the Power sets for them. But the ones like Cole's got? People might have made the morphers, but the power source that goes with it."

It was Tommy's turn to wave his chopsticks. He pointed at Jason. "Okay, Rex," he said. "What about the power coins? Someone had to make those."

"But they were compressed crystals. The Powers existed before the coins were made."

"Where's the proof?"

"You want proof? Man, Billy's got volumes of research on all the powers from back in our day. And the powers used by the Aquitians. Trey and I even let him study the Gold Ranger Power." Jason smugly turned his attention to Hayley, who he knew would find the information more interesting. "The Triforian royal family passes that Power down once the heir to the throne reaches about 15 or 16. No one over the age of what we'd think of as 17 has ever received that power before. It's likely Trey will keep it until he has a kid and that kid becomes a teenager. According to Billy's research it's this way across the galaxy. Man-made powers that draw from the Grid are utilitarian. But natural powers need a specific type of brain chemistry and body type. At least, that's what Billy thinks."

"Billy also accidentally caused himself to rapidly age before our very eyes."

"Only because he was trying to find a way to fix what Vile did to everyone. Don't forget you were ready to go through that process yourself if it hadn't been for Rito and Goldar."

"How-"

"Adam and Rocky," Jason told him. "It's... sort of become tradition to tell embarrassing stories about you when you're not around."

Hayley smirked behind her spring roll. Tommy grumbled under his breath, but he had to admit Jason made a good point. One he'd already been considering when he handled the gems, trying to figure out why they had seemed to call out to him so strongly from the earth they were buried in. Why he was already finding himself instinctively seeking out the ones meant to carry them.

"Unfortunately... as much as I want to argue with the both of you, Hayley's got a good idea and I have bills that if I don't get a job soon will start piling up."

Jason shook his head and grabbed some more sauce packets to open over his plate. "I told you man. I can put your name on my savings account. You can take what you need. I made more working on those zords than I know what to do with."

"I might have to take you up on that."

Hayley smiled. "So, you'll take the job then?"

"I don't really have much of a choice," he said. "Besides, I'm supposed to be laying low. And if I end up with teenagers as Rangers, I could at least make some good excuses for why they're late to classes."

"Good. Because school starts August 4th and you're due in July 28th for a teacher work week to prepare for the new school year."

"But that's- That's a month away! I haven't even done an interview or-"

"Oh the school board loved your credentials. Your resume was top notch. Unfortunately you couldn't make it to the interview because you were also at a dig but were more than happy to do a video conference chat from Nevada."

"You- I- You-" was all Tommy could get out as Jason burst into laughter, nearly knocking his glass to the floor as he tried, and failed, to get a sip of water.

"You're welcome," was all she said before rising from the table to get Jason a towel to wipe up the water with.

**o0o**

_"Remind me again why I agreed to this?"_

"Because the fate of the world might rest in the balance?" Jason responded calmly as he worked in the cozy cabin kitchen. His phone was in his pocket, an earbud jammed into his left ear as the microphone piece dangled further down the cord. It was sensitive enough to pick up his voice, as long as he spoke clearly.

_"Or, and this is just a suggestion, it might not and we're completely overthinking this and I can quit this job after all?"_

Jason chuckled as he shook his head, reaching for one of his mother's recipe cards and checking the ingredients list again. "Just think," he said, smiling. "All those years of wondering what Mr. Kaplan and Mrs. Appleby talked about in the teacher's lounge and now you'll finally have an answer."

_"Not like this. What if I completely choke? You know I don't handle talking in front of crowds well."_

"Tommy," he said, setting down his knife so he wouldn't nick his fingers from the distraction. He turned around, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms over his chest as he thought. "Try this. Just imagine the most annoying students in your classes are monsters. Find a student with a really obnoxious voice? Picture a teenage version of Rita sitting in the back of the class. Kid with an anger problem? Well there's your Zedd."

_"Oh God that's worse!"_

"You've told evil emperors to get bent. How are teenagers worse than nearly getting yourself killed because you couldn't shut your trap for five seconds without snapping a real groaner of a one liner at a monster?"

_"You've completely forgotten what it was like to be a teenager haven't you? They will eat me alive."  
_

"Our teenage experience wasn't exactly what I would call normal, Christmas."

_"What am I going to do? I can't believe I agreed to do this..."_

And back at square one. Jason looked over his shoulder at his dinner. "Tell you what," he said, pushing off the counter and going to the fridge to pull out another chicken breast he'd been saving for his dinner the next night. "Why don't you drive down here and we can talk about this in person over dinner."

_"Jase I can't... I've got the first day coming up and I need the weekend to-"_

"Then I guess it's my mom's stuffed chicken breast for one tonight after all," he said, not bothering to put the other one away. "I mean... I've got all this fresh basil and mozzarella... and scored some really good, ripe tomatoes from the farmer's market this morning..."

_"...How long does it take to cook?"_

"About twenty minutes. I know it's early in the evening but you know I like to get the prep work out of the way long before time to eat. Gives the spices a chance to really work on the meats and-"

_"If I leave in the next ten minutes I'll be there around seven thirty."_

Jason chuckled to himself as he cut up more tomato. "Could you pick up some of that sparkling grape juice stuff we used to drink back when you were in green and white? You know, that stuff your mom used to give us for special occasions because we couldn't have the champagne."

_"Odd choice, but okay. Any reason?"_

"Yeah. I ran out yesterday," Jason said as he scraped the tomatoes into a bowl with the rest and grabbed a few more artichokes.

_"Oh... so no other reason?"_

Jason shrugged, knowing full well the other man couldn't see him. But old habits and all that. "Cutting back on my drinking. The stuff helps. And it might go nice with this chicken, if you ever get here."

_"Alright alright. On my way out the door now."_

Jason could hear the rattle of keys and a door slam. Metal on metal. Clearly his jeep. The engine started. _"Crap. Forgot my wallet."_ The engine was cut.

"I'll let you sort this out. And don't use your phone while you drive. I'd like you to get here in one piece."

_"Yeah yeah..."_ The voice was muffled. Jason figured he must have it pressed between his cheek and his shoulder. _"Love you too, Rex."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start of school dates are given as teacher work week July 28 and first day of school as Aug 4th. This is based on a 2003-2004 school year, the timing of which is based on the final episode of Dino Thunder where I think a sign/banner at the prom said it was 2004. And again later in a SPD episode where the DT kids are at a class reunion where the banner in the background reads "Welcome Class of 2004!"  
> July 28 and Aug 4th in 2003 both fell on a Monday. I checked.
> 
> The recipe Jason's making at the end can be found here: <https://diabetesstrong.com/stuffed-chicken-breast/>  
> It calls for sun dried tomatoes, but I've used fresh tomatoes (diced) and it's actually very healthy and very good, especially if you're diabetic.
> 
> Lastly... there is one more chapter after this, and it's not going to be very long. It will briefly cover what Jason was up to during Dino Thunder up until he comes rolling back into Tommy's life again after the DT kids graduate in _Hang Up The Spandex_.


	11. Chapter 11

_"Someone found the cave."_

"What?"

_"The gems are gone. I'm searching the security footage of the Lair right now."_

"You called it a Lair?"

_"What? I couldn't call it a Command Center, now could I?"_

"Lair just sounds so... villains have Lairs, Tommy. Heroes have bases."

_"Yeah, well... my house. My rules,"_ Tommy joked back, the unease still present in his voice. Then... _"Someone's in the house. I'll call you back. Don't do anything yet."_

"You better," Jason replied just as the dial tone hit.

He set his phone down on the counter, looking around the cozy kitchen of the place he'd called home for the summer. He knew it was too good to last. He'd woken with an uneasy feeling in his gut that morning. A feeling that had only gotten worse throughout the day.

Tommy's parting words - don't do anything yet. He should know Jason better than that. Quickly he picked his phone back up, dialing a number he really didn't want to have to use. After the first few rings, he heard a familiar voice on the other end. "Hey, Zack, my man! Remember that thing we talked about last month?... No, the other thing. Tommy's thing. I need a favor..."

Jason's phone was ringing throughout the day as favors were asked or called in to and for various ex-Rangers. By the time he finally collapsed onto his bed, he was ready to pass out. Unfortunately, his phone had other plans. Groaning, Jason lifted his head from the pillow - the one that still smelled strongly of desert dust and Tommy's favorite hair gel. Upon seeing the name lit up on the LCD screen he smiled sleepily and rolled onto his back, hitting the answer button before putting it on speaker.

"Busy day?"

_"You guys were right."_

"Already? First day of the school year. I think that's a new record." He heard Tommy groan on the other end of the line. "Hey Christmas. Talk to me. What happened today?" He sat up and turned, searching the nightstand drawer for his earbuds. Once found he plugged them in, taking the phone off speaker and settling it on his thigh, making it easier to talk without having to worry about the blasted device. "Christmas?..."

_"Sorry. Just... trying to piece it all together so it doesn't sound insane. The day started out so... normal, too. I was only a few minutes late to my first class..."_

Jason listened as Tommy recounted the mundane events at the start of the day, the stress and anxiety slowly draining out of his voice as he actually laughed at how he first met the three students that had been the cause of so much chaos in one day.

_"I should have known when Randall pushed their detention on me it would end up this way. Three Dino gems, three trouble making teenagers. They were even wearing the right colors."_

"Who's Randall again?"

_"The new principal. My boss. I think she might actually hate me."_

"Why?"

_"Finding new Power Rangers aside, I actually like my job and don't want to torture my students. Randall on the other hand..."_

Jason smiled to himself as Tommy rambled on. Then suddenly... did he hear that right?... "Whoa. Back up. Did you just say what I think you just said?"

_"Which part? That Anton's still alive and his company bought the museum or the fact I was chased down the road at high speed by a giant robotic tyrannosaurus Rex?"_

"Yeah, that. What the hell? Why a T-Rex? Isn't that some kind of tourist hazard or something? What are the chances that thing would activate during normal business hours? A school field trip and there's an entire class wiped out by one robot dinosaur."

_"The tech inside was familiar. I don't think Anton was the only thing to survive the explosion."_

"You think your research was taken?"

_"I know it was. One of the kids was kidnapped by my drones and met Mesagog face to snout. The other two found my new address in the staff directory and came out to get my help. They figured Dino looking monsters took their friend, so ask the Dino science guy."_

Jason did his best not to laugh. "Well," he said. "Guessing that's what you had to hang up on me for earlier?"

_"Yeah..."_

"Yeah..." Jason repeated, combing a hand through his hair with a sigh as silence settled on the line. "Well... we knew this was coming. But damn, I didn't expect the Power to kick in so quickly after you started the job."

_"How long do we have?"_

"Tommy-"

_"Don't give me that. I know you. The moment you got off the phone with me you turned around and started making calls."_

He sighed. "It'll take me two weeks to get things on my end sorted out. Bills, long term storage for my stuff. Tanya's starting another European tour in October and needs a few extra security personnel. Zack's footing the bill for bodyguard training as long as I'll be the best man at the wedding."

_"So two weeks-"_

"And a half. I'm spending a few days with my dad. Letting him in on what's going on so he understands why neither of us will be around for a while."

It was quiet then. All Jason could hear was Tommy's slow, controlled breathing. He closed his eyes and tried to picture what he looked like right in that moment. "Hey," he said softly. "It's late and you had a long day. Get some sleep, _Dr._ Oliver. You're going to need it."

**o0o**

A week later Hayley sent him a picture attachment from her phone. All she had to say was _"You still have any of your old black clothes left that might fit him?"_

She drove out to the cabin the next day to pick up a box of t-shirts Jason had left over from his days as the Gold Ranger with a warning that they might not fit.

She left him with a plastic store bag. "Took these while he was... indisposed for a few days." Hayley didn't need to say it. Jason knew whatever had happened, resulting in a fourth Ranger in Reefside, it was better for him not to know the details. "So, anything you want to send back with me, other than a box of shirts?"

"What-"

"You know when he came back from that vacation he stole the pillowcases from his hotel room before they could be changed by room service."

"You're kidding?"

"I wish I was. He threatened death when I suggested maybe he should wash them during mid terms."

Jason rubbed at his eyes as if he were trying to stave off a headache. "Part of me wants to know why and the other part is just..." He sighed. "I guess a shirt or something then. God he's so weird sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Hayley asked in a deadpan reply as Jason went back to the bedroom with the bag she'd brought him. He was a little embarrassed by the fact she did know both of them so well - even though she hadn't known Jason nearly as long as Tommy. When he came back with a small trash bag containing two of his shirts, Jason wasn't really surprised to see her smiling at him.

Soon, she was getting back into her car for the long drive back to Reefside. Back to the danger that was forcing Jason to leave for everyone's safety. She rolled the window down after turning over the engine. "You know, Jason," she said. "The human mind retains some of its primitive animal instincts. Especially in times of distress or trauma. Exposure to pheromones we find pleasing or comforting can help reduce depression and anxiety and makes us feel safe."

She reached down for the gear shift, then turned her sad, kind smile back to him. "If you can, do you think you could maybe send something here and there until you get back? That way when he's missing you or stressed he doesn't hang onto these for six months before I can steal them and wash them."

Jason shook his head with a laugh. "Yeah. We'll hash it out later after I'm gone. Billy set you up on the server yet?"

"Remember who you're talking to. I set myself up on that thing ages ago. And made it more secure much to Bill's annoyance."

He thanked her, and she him before she turned the car around and drove off.

**o0o**

He managed to see Tommy one more time before he left for New York City. They only had a few minutes together before the boarding call for his flight.

"I would have been here sooner but Mesagog-"

"Don't explain. You're here now. We can do this the right way for a change."

"Jase hurry up or you'll miss your flight," Justin said from nearby.

"Give me a minute," he shot back, not wanting to let go.

Tommy looked over Jason's shoulder to the boarding passengers. "I'm not going to say it. Because this isn't goodbye."

"No, it's not. I'm just... going to a new job."

"Yeah. New job." He stole a quick kiss from the ex-Red Ranger and smirked. "I'll clean up this mess and you'll be home before we know it."

"Really? If I were in charge it'd be cleaned up by now."

"Big talk from a mechanic."

"Bigger talk from a science teacher," he replied back with a smile, then let his face become more serious. "I have to go. And you've got a long drive back."

"Are you sure I can't change your mind?"

He nodded, pressing their foreheads together. "Go save the world, Christmas. Make sure I've got a home to come back to."

**o0o**

Zack had put him up in a decent place for his month of training. Between that and keeping up with news reports coming out of California, time felt like it were flying by. Once he, Tanya, her boyfriend, and the rest of her entourage and security detail were across the ocean things got a little easier.

He learned early on that Quentin knew all about Tanya's history as a Ranger. But she hadn't told him about anyone else other than Zack. And that was only because he'd stumbled in on a conversation by mistake.

Jason's job mostly entailed babysitting Quentin who had unfortunately been the target of a stalker on Tanya's previous South American tour. Hence the beefed up security. It wasn't too bad a gig, despite how uncomfortable carrying a firearm made him. He was trained and qualified - but there was a large difference between a Power Pistol and a .9mm. For one a Power Pistol could be set to stun. Stun setting on a .9mm was shooting the kneecaps or the arm instead of the chest or the face.

And he hoped he never had cause to use it.

In his travels over the course of the tour, he ran into other former Rangers. Three who had served with Cole on the Wild Force team. Danny and Max were alright... but it was Merrick that gave him cause for concern... at first.

A man and his formerly evil alter ego. It was one hell of a surprise to learn that they were expecting him to turn up. Something about a very specific set of mutual friends who also still struggled with their inner demons.

He still exchanged e-mails with Tommy and Hayley (mostly Hayley so he'd get honest answers). He occasionally sent a care package to her cafe in Reefside for her to pass along to Tommy.

After the tour was over in March, Jason had built up an ex-Ranger Rolodex and with Billy's help, Hayley's advice, and Zack's connections a rudimentary network was started. Connecting former Rangers to one another through Billy's server. Anyone wanted to learn to fly a plane? Yellow Wild Force Ranger Taylor Earhardt had some free time to offer lessons. Anyone looking for a free vacation? Flash the VIP cards at Bulkmeier's in Angel Grove and get a free week's full VIP package. Formerly possessed? Used by an ancient evil? Reformed villain? Support groups popped up with teleconferencing options. Volunteer sponsors to help keep you on the straight and narrow.

It was universally agreed by all they met that something like this Ranger Support Network could have been very useful back in the day. Even if they couldn't know about it until after, some of them... couldn't adjust well on their own. Having experienced Rangers from before them would have been a big help for everyone.

Each city he and Tanya went to, if there were Rangers in the area, they were sought out and introduced. It gave Jason something to do to keep his mind off the increasingly bad news he was getting out of Reefside.

As reports about the Rangers fighting an evil White Ranger increased, Jason spent his free time between composing e-mails to Tommy and Hayley to reach out to other former Red Rangers. Establish some sort of hierarchy and rules for what he and his friends were trying to accomplish. Since Reds were the leaders, it made sense to have the Reds be points of contact for each team whenever possible. In the case of Wesley and Eric, it was the ONLY option.

Even Andros, with a little convincing from TJ, was on board with the idea and had offered to be the representative for most of the space-based teams and lone Rangers out in the cosmos. Especially since Delphine and Aurico, given their species' special water-based needs, shouldn't make the trip to Earth unless absolutely necessary.

The idea was in its infancy of course, but for Jason it was a lifeline. Something else that gave him a reason to keep fighting for control.

**o0o**

It happened the day of Zack and Angela's wedding. A wedding that was years in the making. Technically he wasn't there as Tanya and Quentin's bodyguard, but it didn't stop him from being a little protective of them while he was there.

When it happened, he was giving a rather humorous and good natured best man speech and couldn't check his phone until later in the night.

When he finally had the opportunity to look, he'd been sitting at the wedding party table beside the Maid of Honor who'd been hitting on him for weeks leading up to the actual wedding. Angela, he liked. She turned out not to be as shallow and materialistic as a lot of people thought she was. She simply knew exactly what she wanted and wouldn't settle for less. And she made Zack work for it, even after he'd finally confessed to her that he was the original Black Ranger. Something that, bless their personal yellow angel Trini and her photography phase, Jason and Zack were able to provide photographic evidence for.

Angela's friends however... even if Jason had been straight he would rather use the gun he'd been issued to shoot himself in the foot and spend the night in the ER than be left alone with them. Especially Erica, who had been practically throwing her chest at him for weeks.

Checking his phone and finding a stealth photo from Hayley of Tommy in nicer clothes than usual was a godsend. Because he knew for a fact Erica was too nosy for her own good. "Who's he?"

"My boyfriend."

"He's cute."

"I think so, too."

"He got a brother?"

"Not anymore," he said as calmly as he could. The woman gave him a look, rolled her eyes, and turned to the man on the other side of her. He felt a pang of guilt, but didn't give it more than a fleeting thought as he read the message that had accompanied the photo of the now ex-Black Dino Ranger at a school dance.

"Finally..." he said quietly before excusing himself from the table to find a quiet place to make his call to Hayley.

**o0o**

When the plane touched down and Jason once again came out of the terminal, he felt relieved to be back on California soil. Home again at last. And he had no intention of leaving it again.

Friendly faces of old friends met him, Aisha and Justin holding a big piece of cardboard with his name in glittery red and gold letters.

"We couldn't decide which color you looked better in," Rocky said as Adam relieved the man of his bags. "We're so glad you're back. Which house are we taking you to today? Your dad's? Stone Canyon?"

"Please not there. I like it there. It's perfect there," Justin said.

"I'm not kicking you out, Justin. Actually... if you want to keep it that badly, we can talk later on about selling it to you."

"So Tommy's cabin then?" Aisha asked.

"Guys! Look! First, I'm starving so someone's going to have to feed me. Second, I told my dad I'd stay at his place tonight before I drive up to Reefside."

From the corner of his eye he saw money exchange hands and rolled his eyes as Adam counted up his winnings. "Well," Jason said once Adam had not-so-secretly put the money away. "Looks like the Frog's buying."

"So," Justin started as they moved their welcome wagon out of the Angel Grove Airport and towards the parking lot. "I'm betting you didn't tell Tommy you were coming home, did you?"

"You don't see him here do you?" Jason replied back.

Rocky groaned as, somewhere behind Jason, he had to stop a moment to pull out his wallet again handing over the last of his cash to Justin and Aisha.

**o0o**

Jason caught up on everything he missed over lunch, at least with the Stone Canyon gang. Tommy had called them all personally a few days before Jason's flight to let them know the crisis in Reefside was over... and that he was hanging up his spandex.

Again.

"We should start charging him for stealing colors," Adam said.

Rocky laughed. "I haven't seen that much gold on a Ranger suit since Jason's last rotation."

"You know Tommy," Aisha tossed in with a laugh of her own. "Always has to go the extra mile to stand out."

Justin poured himself another cup of coffee from the thermal pot the waitress had left on the end of their table for him. "Yeah, but did you see that fifth guy? Special weapon AND a shield?"

"Man... when Christmas told me about that guy Tanya had to come check on me to make sure I was okay. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. It was horrible for a kid to go through that, obviously. But if it was going to happen, I'm glad it happened to a team Tommy was dealing with." He looked around at his friends to see them nodding in subdued agreement. "If anyone understands what that kid went through, it's him. Couldn't have had a better teacher."

There was more he knew about the situation that he couldn't tell them. Like the fact Tommy created the foot-soldiers his Rangers had to fight on a near daily basis. That the bulk of the research that Mesagog abused had originally been done by Tommy and Anton Mercer to help the world not harm it.

He couldn't tell them about Hayley's e-mails about Tommy being trapped in amber. Then stuck in his suit. Then the short stint being invisible. About the days he broke gym equipment after reading those e-mails. The couple of street fights he got into when they were in Spain because he just needed to hit something and hit it hard so he wouldn't be tempted to get the next flight back to California.

As if sensing his shift in thoughts and mood, Aisha poked him with her elbow. "Enough of that," she said after a few minutes. "Tell us all about the shops in Paris. Kim used to say they were the best in the world..."

**o0o**

Jason spent all evening with his dad, telling him about his trip and about all the late nights with Quentin backstage while Tanya was killing it with the crowd. He showed him pictures from Zack's wedding and his father agreed in disbelief that it was the least likely thing he'd ever expected to happen - and his son used to pilot giant robots with his friends.

He told his dad about the different cities he'd seen, the odd and obscure laws in different countries. About the time the tour bus broke down in the middle of nowhere only to discover they were in Luxembourg and the translator they had with them had laryngitis. They were stuck on the side of the rode for a full day before getting the bus fixed and back on the road.

When he finally had to excuse himself for the night, half past eleven and jet lag catching up with him, his dad had finally asked the question he'd wanted to ask since he first opened the door to see his son standing there with his bags.

"That problem you told me about, why you had to go, you get it fixed?"

"No," Jason had admitted. "Can't fix it. But it's better. Learned some new stuff from another ex-Ranger and his... uh... sort of similar problem. Inspired me to do better and gave me something else to keep fighting for."

"Good," his father had said, giving him a swift pat on the arm.

**o0o**

The bright red pick-up with the dented driver side door and the scratches down the side pulled up the dirt track. Tommy's jeep was nowhere to be found, and after a quick glance at the clock he knew it wouldn't be for at least another hour. He made good time, the three hour trip taking only two and a half due to light traffic on the highway for a change. Then again, it was the brief lull between the start of tourist season and the rest of the year. He doubted he'd ever get so lucky again.

He sat in the cab of his truck for twenty minutes after cutting off the engine. From the outside the place looked a little more lived in. A table that hadn't been there the last time he'd visited; tools, brushes, and bits of pottery and bone left out haphazardly on top.

Jason took a deep breath and pulled his key from the ignition, then climbed out of the truck. After grabbing two duffle bags from the back he made the short trek up to the front door, fumbling with his keys for the one with the green key topper he'd only used once to help move boxes and large plastic bins into the place when Tommy first moved in full time.

He was a little impressed when he went inside. The place felt... cozy. It reminded him some of the cabin at the lake but messier. Books and papers scattered here and there. Red pens sticking out of odd places. Something he guessed he'd have to get used to if Tommy stuck with the teaching job.

It was easy to discern which of the two bedrooms was Tommy's. It was the one that looked like a tornado had blown through it. It took longer than expected for him to tidy it up and clear a space for his bags.

He checked his watch. Ten minutes until the graduation ceremony was over if the schedule Hayley had sent him was to be believed. Add another ten to fifteen for the drive out to Valencia Road...

Just enough time to have a look around and re-familiarize himself with the place now that it had proper furniture in it.

Having been through the entire house, he noticed a lack of pictures. In the apartment they had all been scattered around the place. Posed pictures with his family. Candid shots of friends on vacation, at the beach, hanging out at Ernie's. None of that, not a single scrap, could he find in the house as he made his way through it.

Jason wasn't at all surprised at the lack of pictures - more disappointed. Yet given the dangers this last team had faced - the constant invasions of their personal lives, he understood why. It was the same reason Jason left when he did. To protect their friends and fellow Rangers. Their families. Wouldn't do to have some drones show up on Justin's doorstep and kidnap him to use as leverage against Tommy if Mesagog thought there was anything to gain from it.

But there were other things. Little things. Tanya's latest CD, the one she'd just finished a tour to promote, was still in the player on his desk. A hideous glazed mug from Justin's high school art class held a collection of pens and pencils. Tommy's diplomas and degrees were hanging haphazardly on the walls in cheap dollar store frames, and slightly crooked. The bowl he'd given Jason early in their renewed relationship and which had been used to toss his keys in by the door, sat on a table near a model skeleton.

Jason heard a car door slam. He'd lost track of time.

Heavy footsteps on the front porch. A slight creak as the front door was opened.

"Jason!"

He turned, feeling his face light up with a smile when he caught sight of him. Glasses half-slid off his nose and keys dangling absently from his hand. The sight of him in a suit that wasn't for a funeral was something Jason had rarely ever gotten to see. It was something he wanted to see a lot more of.

Realizing someone was going to have to say something before things got awkward, Jason said the first thing that came to mind. "You kept _Bone-a-saurus!_ " Okay... not exactly what he'd meant to say, but it brought a big, wide smile to the other man's face which made his stomach flip and his pulse race.

"Of course I kept him!" was the reply as Tommy closed the distance between them, reaching out in the same moment. Fingers wrapping and hands clasping onto one another's wrist to pull each other into a tight embrace.

"I missed you," Jason said softly, inhaling the scent of desert dust and that God awful hair gel for the first time in almost a year. A sense of safety and comfort and home that reminded him of his last conversation with Hayley before he had left for New York.

"I missed you too, Jase," he heard just as softly in reply.

They held onto one another a few moments longer, almost as if afraid to let go and discover the other already gone again. When finally they broke apart, it was to smiles. Broad and happy and bright. "You're done?" he asked him. "No more Rangering?"

"Only with the Reds," Tommy replied.

Jason nodded. Not the answer he wanted to hear, but... it was one he was going to just have to accept. The Power always did seem to like latching itself onto Tommy. While his own faith in it was lacking, he couldn't deny that it was a force more powerful than the both of them, than all of them. If it wanted to keep dragging the man in front of him back, kicking and screaming, then he'd just have to find a way to deal with it.

His stomach rumbled.

But first... "I'm starved. Pizza and tv?"

Tommy nodded, his smile softening some as he reached out to clasp Jason on the shoulder, almost to reassure himself the man was still there with him. "You read my mind. Let me get out of this monkey suit and I'll be right down. Menus are on the fridge."

When he was alone in the study, Jason turned his attention back to the skeleton model of the mighty T-Rex. He nearly reached out to touch it when he heard Tommy shout down from upstairs. "Make mine an extra large! Still burning off the excess Ranger energy!"

Jason shook his head with a chuckle before turning away and starting for the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. That's the story. I hope you all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know there's some discrepencies between this one and the sequel which are a result of writing both stories at the same time. I'll be going back at a later date to just clean up some of the details but other than that this is it.  
> The story continues from a more broad character perspective in _Hang Up the Spandex_. So if you haven't yet please give that one a read, too.


End file.
